Student dorm room, Coventry- The United Kingdom. The water drips, it ticks, pauses, dribbles and ticks again. The tap is now completely shut, there is no banging against the porcelain sink. Stillness arrives, fact is it never left to begin with- it was just drowned by the little noises that spring without control; the cars … Continued
Legends root deep here. It’s why, while the wind keens her Gaelic lament outside, I find myself accepting tales I might otherwise not. “And a splash of water from this ‘Well of Age”, or Tobar na h’oige ,” Allison stumbles over the Scotch language, “will wash away the years on one’s face, healing ailments and … Continued
The teenage girl dreamer sits by her windowsill and waits for the day when a snow-white owl will come slicing through the sky, cawing only minutely because of the parchment in its mouth, and she’ll grab the little paper with such tangible excitement that she’ll forget to pay the owl for its delivery. Only when … Continued
I am Unstoppable and I Love Orange Soda People can say what they will about Philadelphia. As a North Jersey college student, my peers have written it off as “A downgraded New York,” or “a dump with nowhere to park.” Still, in the City of Brotherly Love, brotherly love accounts for most of my … Continued
Mabuhay: A Look Born in the Philippines My husband has a certain look. He gets that look whenever he talks with someone who knows, like he does, what it meant to live in the Philippines. It is a look of tested peace, a hidden crucible of understanding that connects those who have experienced it. He … Continued
I took a big risk to journey to New Zealand. I left a steady job and paycheck. I had a fabulous Brooklyn apartment and a sexy social life. I craved the spontaneity in life and wanted to solve my personal mystery of the other side of the world. I went to get lost in myself. … Continued
I nearly had a heart attack when I first saw the dazzling captivation in the marine wonderland of coral and iridescent fish off a tiny island in Micronesia. In Bali, I marveled at how the spiritual was so inextricably (and gracefully) woven into everyday life, where everyone I met gave daily flower-filled offerings of gratitude … Continued
I am alone in the farmhouse. I know I am alone. The farmer left an hour ago. I saw his car disappear along the drive, past the linden trees, over the stream and round the corner into the forest. When I walk down to the kitchen the dog is fast asleep on the mat in … Continued
Cabal Grandpa collected coffee beans like a jewel thief. He could find traders in all the nooks and crannies of Addis, from the roadside shops in Meskel Flower to the huts at the Simien mountain base where the lonely widow hoarded her beans. He would bargain ferociously and always paid much less than he should … Continued
PINE FOREST ENUGU: A HOME TO THE WEARY AND A HAVEN FOR THE TROUBLED The challenges of life and the responsibility attached to our societal position usually confer on every individual a dual personality. There is the public persona, the one the public knows and associates with; and there is the inner person, who steers … Continued