Now/Next

I was either going to title my last post “Achievement Unlocked” or “Successful Completion.” I went with the latter because I had the sneaking suspicion I had already used the former title, but was too lazy to verify. (I had not.) In any event, about an hour after I hit publish, the doorbell rang because […]

September 14, 2014

A few details remembered.

In the summer of 2012 I got to spend a few weeks in Morocco as part of my graduate program. I wrote some posts about that. I made a short video on an NGO project with two of my classmates and attended a great deal of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. While I […]

February 19, 2014

Qualifiers

“Not to be critical, but…” began a Facebook comment which inevitably followed with an incredibly critical comment on an article a friend shared. I care very little about the local business in another town being discussed, but the “Not to be _____, but” opener is a particular gripe of mine. I find any statement that […]

January 27, 2014

Emotional Transparency

When things get bad, the last thing I really want to do is talk about how much things suck. Partially this is because when I start doing that, out loud, to other people, I become aware of all the things I should be grateful for and the thousand ways it could get worse. I’m also […]

March 1, 2013

Let’s have relations.

I have begun to experience my life in tweet form, and it makes blogging feel a tad impossible. I end up with a few dozen stories that I’d like to share, each in 140 characters or less. Forgive me if this lack of focus is evident. As my final project for the course I am […]

June 14, 2012

Baby Spice in Morocco

I have a whole hell of a lot of super blonde hair that I do approximately nothing with. It’s an accomplishment if I brush it. This hair calls attention to itself everywhere. Even back in Missouri, some of the middle school students in my classes (during my stint as a substitute teacher) called me Ms. […]

June 11, 2012

A blog birthday and a “graduation”

Saturday was the second anniversary of my first post to this blog. I feel like I should do something to mark the occasion, but I am not quite sure what to say. That is sort of a running theme with me lately. When I started this blog two years ago I had just graduated from […]

May 22, 2012

Finals & Being A Real Person

Yesterday I woke up and decided, “I am leaving the 7th today. It’s time to be a real person.” To clarify: I had to leave my neighborhood regardless, I just decided that this meant that I should also be a real person. When a friend complimented my dress I was a little taken aback by […]

May 9, 2012

Vlogging conversations and identity chatter

It very well may appear as though I have fallen disturbingly in love with vlogging. As in, it is bordering on “a problem.” That might be true. Over at this collaboration channel we have been having these fantastic conversations, and it has been so much more interactive than this blog. Granted, part of this has […]

April 22, 2012

The internet is real.

Being in a Global Communications MA program, the internet enters a lot of our discussions; it has been a significant part of all but one research paper that I have written here. You can’t avoid talking about this thing that has fundamentally transformed the way we communicate (especially in the international contexts that this program […]

March 28, 2012

The Expat Chronicles: Vagueness, Feelings, and Trashy Sequined Katniss

I swear that I will resume posting real things with actual writing in a day or two. I have this thing that randomly posts old entries to my Twitter every few days and about a week ago it selected my first vlog entry to this blog. I was using my netbook’s webcam that has this […]

March 27, 2012

Academic rambling. #gradschoolproblems

I am experiencing an academic crisis of conscience. If you are here because you appreciate my stories about falling on my ass or my inability to learn French, this post will disappoint. GET OUT NOW! A few months ago I wrote a long rambly post about how I wanted to be able to help others […]

February 25, 2012

Origins

I wrote this last fall and for reasons I can’t identify, I never posted it. Since I will be returning to Ghana for spring break in a few short weeks, it seems especially appropriate now, even if it is a bit different from the vast majority of posts on this blog. – “Morning is the […]

February 13, 2012

Blogging about blogging, caffeine, and being a bad friend.

Of all the shit I have purchased since my arrival in Paris, the €20 coffee maker was probably the best. (In perhaps a bit of a contradiction, I would say that splurging on a nice duvet was probably the second best purchase.) I have very little to report on life in Paris because I spend […]

December 17, 2011

Copyright, culture, and the need for new frameworks (or the time I said something legitimate)

Last week was nothing short of insane. It was an emotional and informational roller coaster for my entire family. While I have lots to talk about on that front…that’s not what I’m going to do today. I will, soon, I promise, but not today. I want to talk about censorship and regulating the internet, and […]

November 29, 2011

Notes on visiting Auschwitz

My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Lieber, made our class of 34 kids stand up. One by one, she read off the list of reasons that people were killed in the holocaust. We were told to sit down when the description applied to us. In the end, I was one of two people left standing. It’s […]

November 14, 2011

So what exactly are you doing with your life?

Today we are going to play a game called, “It’s my blog and I do what I want.” This post is long and devoid of pretty pictures and contains only tangential references to Paris. It’s filled to the brim with WHOTHEHELLAMI questions and a tiny bit of “This is what I think about the world.” […]

October 27, 2011

London Detour

As a self-appointed Road Trip Queen, I think there is considerable value in exploring the expanse of what actually comprises the US. I remember seeing an advertisement for a trucking company in the final stretches of one of my trips. “How far have you gone today? Want to go farther?” I was just crossing the […]

October 21, 2011

Paris Photobooth: Exam Stress Relief

Graduate school in Paris has turned out to be a bit heavy on the graduate school and light on the Paris. Papers and exams, it seems, are universal concepts and they followed me here. Or, rather, I chased them here. Because I chose to come here and be a student again. Because I really thought […]

October 13, 2011

Graduate school and drowning have more in common than you might think.

Graduate school is structured to demoralize you. By design, it takes a gaggle of people who have long had a certain level of confidence in their ability to tackle academic pursuits, and kicks them in the knees, then spits on their faces. In theory, if you withstand the abuse, it does something really nice to […]

October 10, 2011

I am a debacle of an individual.

Real person or not, I can confidently say that I will always be a bit of a disaster on legs. My propensity for accidental shenanigans could be an art form. One week in, I have yet to reach “falling in a gutter” levels of epic-story-time but (a) that took two weeks -and- (b) this is […]

September 7, 2011

Oh shit, I’m really in Paris.

I have not forgotten the promised vlog. I attempted to record it three times, but I am so jetlagged and haggard looking it is ridiculous. Mostly it’s a lot of me staring at the camera saying, “Uhhhhh.” Suffice it to say that a lot has happened in the last couple weeks. Waiting to depart my […]

August 30, 2011

A new job, Lessons In Things I Don’t Want To Do, and exclamation points!

The other day I made a comment to a friend about my ineptitude with fairly basic things like walking, cleaning, and packing. My first thought was, “I’m blogging that.” My next thought was, “Well that’s pathetic. I need life.” But I have been a bit lazy with this blogging thing lately. My drafts queue has […]

June 29, 2011

A short vacation in my former life and another list

I only had a few hours to hang out in DC before we had to load up the car and drive home. Somehow, a few hours skulking around my former college campus was more than enough to give me an unending, “!!!! I am just. so. uncomfortable.” feeling. Yet when given the option to go […]

May 13, 2011

Lists of lists of lists.

Last week was rough in subtle and unexpected ways. I mentioned that I broke up my first fight as a substitute teacher. That was a little less subtle. Most frequently, it was being confronted by my own limitations, both personally and within the opportunities made available by my jobs. For both of my current jobs, […]

May 9, 2011

Once I made a vlog. Oh and I’m going to Paris.

Clarification: I don’t know what that weird humming noise is. It’s a glitch with my webcam. There’s probably a ghost/demon living in my netbook. It’s whatever. For the 4 non-bloggers who might read this: This is Sara. This is Lily. The fact that I should never ever try to vlog again should be clear after […]

March 25, 2011

That one time when I remembered I had a blog.

I spent my winter break in the constant motion to which I am most accustomed. Perhaps even more familiar though less inherently comfortable, I traveled by planes, trains, and automobiles with my family. Actually, that’s a lie. We didn’t take the train. We’re American. Nobody takes the train here. We did our usual Sweeney tornado […]

January 9, 2011

Once upon I time I pretended I was still in college, rallied for sanity, and got a lap dance…

“I can’t remember the last time I went to a bar. I also can’t remember the last time I got drunk.” Things I said Thursday evening: both of those statements. Things that are no longer true: both of those statements. I have decided that maybe everyone else I know doesn’t want their business all over […]

November 5, 2010

Grad School