Living Beautifully
A year ago, I was uncertainly stepping into a new job. After floundering and soul searching and asking the darkness big questions (and finding myself even more afraid of the answers), I set myself a task. Over the course of several weeks, I paid attention. To what brought me joy, certainly, but also what brought … Continue reading
Questing
I spent the summer I turned twelve doing four things: reading, keeping a journal of every book I read and film I saw, practicing my violin, and mowing the lawn while belting show tunes (secretly dreaming I’d be discovered by a talent agent over the drone of the mower). The summer I turned twelve I … Continue reading
Moving Season
It’s moving season in Chicago. Every leafy side street is full of U-hauls and hatchbacks. Alley stairwells everywhere echo with stuck sofas and clanging bed frames. Although the sticky heat is a terrible time for hauling box springs and arm chairs, 40-below and in 2-feet of unplowed snow is infinitely worse, I imagine. Around here … Continue reading
Opening Ceremonies & Isolationism
The Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics was a delight. From beginning to end, the game designers, producers and International Olympic Committee united to attempt something truly ambitious and profound. Instead of focusing the Ceremony on the home country, a long-standing tradition of glorious patriotism – as seen in London 2012 – and extravagant pageantry … Continue reading
Travel Tuesdays: Revival
I recently came across my Travel Tuesday stories: a short-lived weekly ritual exploring places I had been as we waited (and waited and waited) for the uncertain future to transport us to America. I felt strangely jealous. Delighted to revisit places I fondly remember, surprised and rather chuffed at being transported by words I don’t … Continue reading
Old Friends
As a Michigander in Chicago it is inevitable I run into people. This place is full of past. For me, my family, my friends. But the particular domestic pleasure of walking through Andersenville on a sunny morning is multiplied when you recognize an old friend in the dappled crosswalk. The gaunt gait and long jaw … Continue reading
Kintsugi: The Art of Being Whole
I love the Internet. The collection of thoughts from vast swathes of humanity can make the most unexpected connections both serendipitous and sublime. Sometimes they are explicit: the public conversations of my filter bubble circling around related or juxtaposed ideas. But more often, I find my curiosity leading me down rabbit holes I didn’t know … Continue reading
Carpe Kareoke
Last week, a friend celebrated his birthday at a small Korean karaoke joint. The kind with private rooms and a songbook as thick as a brick. About three quarters of the book was in Korean; the sing-along lyrics had typos and accidental homonyms in every track; and the English-language pop songs were from 2003 or … Continue reading
In the last few years I’ve trained myself to snatch small windows of quiet. I need to recharge my batteries at least a couple times a day, and have learned to make the most of the moments I have instead of waiting for the hours I don’t. So tonight, with 10 minutes between my regular … Continue reading
Food of love
Some live to eat while others eat to live. Had I infinite time and money I would run millions of experiments and projects, one of which would investigate those in the latter camp. To eat well is to feel with your whole self. To be alive to what goes in your body and the sensational … Continue reading
Que Sera Sara? 