Today, I am 27. This is not the birthday I had planned, but then again — few things about life these days feels like what I had planned. (I know I’m not alone on this!) If this year has taught me anything, it’s that life goes on regardless of my Read more…
Every day I have traveled through this country, I am struck with immense gratitude for the opportunity I have to do so. The fact that I am able to do so due to the enormous sacrifice of people who put their country first does not escape me; we owe so Read more…
The fact that I’m traveling alone comes up often. Nearly immediately, the fact that I’m a woman traveling alone closely follows. Cue: wide-eyed faces with lips tightened, an attempt to conceal a wave of opinions. Immediately, there is interest, curiosity, or sometimes envy. A shadow follows, apprehension and dismay. Aren’t Read more…
When I slipped below the Mason-Dixon line, the mood started to change almost imperceptibly. It started with a few comments, questions of where I came from, and the following observation that ranged from joking to dismissive: oh, so you’re a northerner. As I moved further south, past DC and into Read more…
“I’m just sayin’,” he said, “It’s not fair.” He leaned his forearms on the oak wood bar, condensation running down the domestic beer bottle in front of him. A woman with tight-cropped hair stood on one side; I sat around the rounded corner on the other, looking at a Read more…
When I announced this project more than a year ago, I remember pressing publish — and immediately feeling a giant pit form in my stomach. What if I wasn’t able to deliver on what I set out to do? What if I failed in a horribly public way? What if Read more…
Curtis leaned back in his seat, empty lunch plates scattered between us on a plastic-lined kitchen table. “You know, I was really dreading this,” he admitted. “But it was way more pleasant than I expected.” I froze, eyes wide. What was that supposed to mean? I wondered. We’d spent more Read more…
“You have to have a cheesesteak,” Marc says emphatically. His eyes widened with excitement, sparkling from the memory. We sat across from each other at the kitchen table, miles away from Philadelphia in his Detroit home. “You have to get it from Pat’s, that’s the only place you should go,” Read more…