Giving a blank page to the unheard.
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 …
There is a strange, stony silence that ensues when your partner looks at you and says, “Well, I’m officially broke.” The realization that both of your bank accounts add up to less than a hundred dollars leaves a bitter, malnourished taste in your mouth. It causes you to think about the direction your life has meandered, the purposes you’ve undertaken, …
Have you ever heard that flirtatious, sophomoric girl giggle and say, “I guess I’m just stubborn!” as an explanation for her unswerving refusal to watch any movie that isn’t 13 Going on 30? Or how about that line-treading boyfriend who, upon hearing that his girlfriend’s mother is stubborn, jokes, “Oh, is that where you get it?” (Guilty.) Every once in a …
I’ve recently returned to Christianity–a turn in my life I think would surprise many of my friends, considering my extremely liberal and humanist adolescence and early adulthood. In many ways, I still believe and hold to many of the truths I discovered over the years of my spiritual questioning and exploration, and calling myself a Christian still feels a bit foreign …
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