The details are hazy, but the mental snapshots are clear. There were palm trees and red tile roofs, individual buildings interspersed with tropical plants and the occasional bird of paradise. The images are faded in the orange glow of a Mediterranean sun. Perhaps we took a bus to this location, far from our apartment complex… Read More The Gift
My earliest childhood memories include forts and castles. The structures were reference points for giving directions in the city or historic landmarks to explore. For a child exploring a fort, a measure of bravery was always involved, climbing uneven stone steps with no guardrails in a time that pre-existed liability lawsuits. I had no context… Read More The Fortress and Those Who Flee
One year ago I lived half a world away from where I sit today. I sat in my comfortable home in southern California. I had no idea that a black man named Ahmaud Arbery had been lynched. COVID came. We were bound to our home. In those early days, we grasped for opportunities for fellowship… Read More It’s Been a Year
There was a rumor. Perhaps it was on a website or a social media group page. I heard it was possible to buy a real Christmas tree in Bahrain. Of course, here one does not acquire a tree by chopping it down in the wild or snuggling up for an outing to a Christmas tree… Read More In search of imperfection
Breakfast spread across the table in typical morning disarray. A kilogram tub of yogurt. A variety of fruits. Scrambled eggs. Toast. Fruit jam and Irish butter. It was a fairly average breakfast that I was quick to compare to my average breakfast in the United States. As we sat around the table enjoying our morning… Read More But what will we eat?
Poppies, like scarlet sprinkles on a cupcake, adorned patches of wild grass along the lane. As I drove my youngsters to their Romanian preschool that spring, it wasn’t just another morning. It was the morning after a presidential primary debate in 2016. When we walked into the small school building, grandparents and mothers turned to… Read More The Humbling Vote
Years ago I sat in a college seminar class with ‘genocide’ written across the board. Our small cohort was learning about specific atrocities perpetrated by humans on other humans. Through documentaries, books and journal articles, and with the guidance of a lawyer, historian and political scientist, we discussed the roots of genocide. Though this was… Read More The Normalization of Contempt
When you move to a new culture, new country, new continent, it’s the little things that grab your attention the first few hours and days. On/off switches on every outlet. A washer and drying in one. Hot chapati or a cappuccino delivered to my door within minutes. Climate control in every room. A view from… Read More The Little Things
It’s like the guy who enters a coffee shop and takes a seat at a table next to a group of women. One woman begins to share her recent account of a traumatic labor and delivery. In the company of friends, she recounts how she wanted to have a natural birth at home, but after… Read More Yes, but. . .
My dad’s parents each died when I was in high school. In both instances, I received the news via phone call and began the moments of grief alone. When my grandmother died, the school staff were made aware and quickly came to comfort and surround me with love. Days later, my parents and siblings traveled… Read More Extended Grieving and the Contemplation of Legacy
