Eating Solo Part II: A Correction
In the previous entry, we discussed the fact that going out alone is more difficult in some contexts than others. Going to a movie, for example, is easier than going to an amusement park. We then highlighted the “dining solo experience” as a particularly uncomfortable one because there is not much to distract you from your solitariness or the stares of others, and because one must also deal with the uncertainty of exactly what to do with... Read More
Finding home: A return (again)
Author’s note: My previous posts give this post a bit of context – take a look! I spent a lot of the last year terrified that the next time I came to Kenya would somehow be my last. I worried that once I got a job, I wouldn’t make enough money for international travel, let alone have enough time off to enjoy it. I worried that I couldn’t get a job that let me travel to Kenya or the region in general as part of my work, and I didn’t consider... Read More
Smart Girls Asking Stupid Questions
Photo Credit: www.visualphotos.com We’ve all dropped our jaw in shock upon hearing someone ask a ridiculously obvious question. We’ve likely caused a few eyes to roll at our own questions, too. But there is something about being in a new place that makes it necessary to reassess the role of these “stupid questions.” Why do we have such a problem with these questions? Not only is the word “stupid” a degrading judgment of another... Read More
Changing
A Go Girl wants to travel, is traveling, has traveled. A Go Girl wants to see different places, is and has. And a Go Girl wants to see change. I am for equality across the board. It bothers me when women are discriminated against but it also bothers me when women take advantage of old rules such as “Never hit a girl.” That doesn’t give any girl/woman to hit boys/men. And it irritates me to no end to see people take advantage of it... Read More
Between Worlds
For the longest time I could not decide what to write about this week. I’ve settled into life as an intern in New York City pretty well and I felt that another post about food in the city would be a tad silly. So I had decided upon writing about the subway and some hilarious stories but then I read one of my friend’s comments about appreciating moments when you’re in a room full of female scientists because they’re rare. And... Read More
All Good Plans of Mice and (Wo)men
So here I am: At a McDonald’s outside of Gare d’Est in Paris because I have nowhere else to go, listening to a terrible rap song played on repeat over the speakers. Seriously, I think I have the lyrics memorized already: “…I see them coming from afar… they know who we are: from Kingston we come through, Kingston we come through…” For those of you who know me, I think its important to mention that at this... Read More
The Road Less Traveled
http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/explore/libraries.aspx Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1874–1963) We’ve all heard this famous Robert Frost poem a thousand times, or at least at every school convocation and graduation we attend. Over the last century, this poem has been used symbolically... Read More
Where Were You When…?
Two weeks ago I was in Berkeley visiting a friend when I saw news coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It’s amazing, the change that takes place in the two seconds which transfer you from ignorance to knowledge—or to try and say this more clearly: when I woke up that Friday morning, Japan was already experiencing the aftershocks that follow catastrophic natural disaster. Had I turned on the news on the car radio, or checked BBC news... Read More
A Plane, Six Trains…and an Upgrade.
In what was beginning to sound and feel like the 12 days of Christmas, I recently embarked on an epic marathon journey home. It’s funny the extent people go to in order to get home to their loved ones for Christmas-I love Christmas and although nature seemed to have a different idea, I was determined to get home for this Christmas-our first together in our new family home. Booking my travel arrangements back in June-it all looked pretty straight... Read More
Merry Christmas and a Car Window
It’s Christmas Eve and my first one with a guest in tow. Marvin is excited to be spending the holiday with my family, yet uncertain about what to expect. But I know all-too-well what comes with a Clapis Family Christmas. Fried dough with brown sugar and cinnamon is already wafting through the rooms of my grandmother’s house, fueled from her small Hartford, CT kitchen. Every few minutes a door opens, another cold rush of air, another series... Read More
