I’m on vacation in Puerto Rico for two weeks. I’ve been looking forward to this respite from the East Coast and the grinding pressure of life in semi-post COVID for MONTHS. And now that I’m here, I have to put away the bad habits that prevent meaningful experience. We got off to a bumpy start …
In mid-December, when my “seasonal stress” looked a lot like clinical anxiety, I found a task force. Christmas was nearing and I’d been trying–not very successfully–to soothe myself with spiritual reflection. The biblical story would soon tell of the Magi, opening their treasure chests to give gold, frankincense, and myrrh to an infant in a …
It Takes a Task Force by Elsie Ramsey and Louisa Farr Read More »
When I was in middle school, friendship was everything. I spent all my time with four guys. We were still too scared to hang out with girls one-on-one, so the few planned hangouts we had with girls were done as a unit. Mostly, we preferred ourselves. There wasn’t much to think about; friendship came easily …
I loved the novel Passing by Nella Larsen so I gave the new Netflix adaptation a look last night. The film is worth watching but didn’t fully express the psychological complexity so effectively explored by Larsen in her 1929 novel. Reflecting on why the book made such an impact on me in college, I realized …
In New York and elsewhere in the States, we’re starting to close down. A hush falls. A new place emerges. Memories come back of emergencies large and less so: 9/11, the 2003 blackout, Super Storm Sandy. The standard rules of engagement are off. We enter into more creative and intimate encounters–less transactional; more substantive. “How …
Crisis and Collective Vulnerability by Elsie Ramsey Read More »
Although there have been shifts and tides since the onset of the #Metoo movement, it remains deeply pertinent and personal to so many of us, triggering memories of our own sexual traumas, causing us to speak to the interiority of our experiences and band together like never before. It is no surprise that the movement …
Trauma, Victims And Patriarchy After #MeToo by Hina Ahmed Read More »
They call them tests. Unlike in school, it required no preparation on my part–my performance had little to do with the outcome. The completion of such tests didn’t move me closer to a tangible achievement; there was no diploma on the horizon. The whole point, as explained to me by the agency, was to get …
I have experienced kindness. It was the most important thing that’s happened to me in under four minutes. Yesterday I was on the bumpiest flight I’ve ever been on and I’ve been on a few. I was flying back to Austin after a week of hopping around the South, capping off days of planes, trains …
