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Eyes Pried Shut
I’m sitting by the Bosporus in Istanbul, perched on a rock not unlike those that line the Puget Sound at the base of Seattle. I’ve been away from home for two months, pulling my body across continents, over oceans, up mountains, through forests, deserts, and UNESCO World Heritage sites. I’ve been in awe, out of…
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Freeze Frames
You said you write because you don’t like talking. Had you asked, I would’ve agreed, adding I write to shape and reshape my reality, to flush out “what grooves me” (shoutout to Amiri Baraka), what to throw out. Sometimes, I write pretending to educate others when I’m really educating myself. Sometimes, I reach too high…
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Thoughts From The Goat Farm
I walked almost two hours in midday heat to a goat farm (I know, I know, but I’m unemployed, ok?). The owner is also a priest. I’m in rural Colombia, Zona de Cafetal. The courtyard is filled with greens and blues, ivy and potted plants in full bloom. There are at least 7 dogs, a…
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When the Answers Are the Questions
I’m on the 5 month anniversary of my departure from my home, and all I have are questions. Mira: Does a grain of rice cost the same in rupias and pesos, dollars and shekels? If a coffee farmer in Zona de Cafetal makes 600 colones ($0.17) for collecting a kilo of coffee beans, where’s my…
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Airport Musings
I haven’t slept in 32 hours and my stomach is a churning wheel of those magical LA street tacos, my eyes burn from prolonged artificial light, my feet smell and my hips are tight. My pounding temple is the most pronounced, so I try to breathe. I don’t realize how much I’m holding. Suitcase, backpack,…
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Palm Oil Wisdom from Pa
I was hangry, sweaty, and cramped in the back of a local bus in West Sumatra, exhausted from the morning’s jungle trek on little sleep. An older local man (which are all referred to as “pa” in Indonesia) started inching closer to me. “Hello! Where are you from?” He asked cheerily. I was expecting the…
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Nothing Is Gratis
Language molds itself anew, folding in new words and phrases with each occupation, colonizer, generation, and time period. Growing up in the United States, I never questioned language nor its creation. Even though there are over 7,000 languages in the world (this is likely wildly underreported due to local dialects and indigenous languages not represented),…
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Bad Connection
I hop on the back of a motorbike, terrified. I’m in Bandung, Indonesia, and riding motorbikes is like Uber here. We swerve up the spines of hills, between racing cars, through the crevices of alleyways that expose neighborhoods hidden from tourist’s view – a slum, I want to say, I don’t want to say. I’m…
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I’ll Be Missing You
I’ve been feeling my mom a lot lately. I think the luxury of slowing down has allowed me to listen for her. This photo was taken when she was around my age, traveling and meeting relatives abroad like I am. I think of the privilege of travel, of the relative safety we both hold/held. I…
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When Life Laughs At You
I woke up early, ready to seize the day and do a 12-mile trek to a glacier in rural Georgia. Since most of my trip is in warm climates, I was terribly ill-prepared for the 40 degree rainy weather (plus windchill) in a thin windbreaker and sweater. Nevertheless, I jumped out of bed to meet…
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