Giving a blank page to the unheard.
We are starting a library in Ghana. That’s what we thought when we launched this crazy crowd-funding campaign and began researching how best to prove our sanity to our families. Establishing anything in another country is audacious—far from the transient backpacking forays I’m used to—but apparently it wasn’t big enough. Kaitlyn and I sat down with an old family friend of …
We are incredibly blessed to have creative and talented friends who are generous and gracious enough to donate their time and gifts to help us raise money. Jennie and Matt are two such people. They’re kind, funny, extremely intelligent, and hard-working–not to mention very loving (of us and each other!). When I approached Jennie about donating pictures for our campaign, …
Every once in a rare while, when searching for one’s purpose for the next era, we can actually get a very clear glimpse of what we are supposed to do. Sometimes it makes perfect sense, ie. “Yes, I have been voicing my opinion on the internet for years now; it makes sense that I would go into politics this year” …
One of the difficult things about having a blog is that it offers a fractured and fragmented view of the life or lives it is meant to reflect. Like a stop-motion animation, it creates a sense of movement and growth from singular moments and preserved experiences, distilled into the timelessness of words on a screen. Because of this, what I’m …
There is a very interesting social dynamic that takes place when people find out that you intend on going to Africa. Apparently, Americans find it socially appropriate to either A) tell you their incredibly uneducated opinion on the entire continent or B) to offer unsolicited, unhelpful advice on your adventure there. In an instant, anyone who has seen a news …
I am deeply disappointed by the decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson by the St. Louis grand jury last night. I am not altogether surprised, but I am not surprised in the same way that I am no longer surprised to find that another woman has been abused or raped. This systemic violence permeates our society in a way …
So, Brady and I are going to be creating a crowd-funding campaign soon to help us get to Africa, and it has brought up some challenges for both of us. For me, the challenge is specifically in asking other people (especially people we don’t know) for help (especially financial help). Both of us have worked our way through school, and …
Do you ever think back to a specific time in your life and think, ‘Good lord, I was an idiot’? If you answered no…yes you do. I’ve been thinking recently about a time a couple years ago when I was, in fact, a huge idiot. It was my junior year of college, and I managed to almost singlehandedly turn a …
I am not perfect–far from it, in fact. And although this is one of the most common-sense statements to make, it has been one of the most difficult things about myself to accept. I woke up angry today. No particular reason. The day outside is beautiful–a crisp, bright autumn day, the perfect day in my favorite season. And yet I …
Somehow–probably from continuously opening and closing doors due to making what seems to be an endless stream of t-shirts, or from some seemingly universal belief that being inside is better than being outside, or simply because there was light inside and not much outside–our apartment became home to several flies. It began slowly, with just one, buzzing about innocuously and …
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