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identity mentors nature revision The Imaginary travel

Frank Lloyd Wright: Beginnings

In keeping with my new-found passion (to visit as many Frank Lloyd Wright [FLW] buildings as I can), I went to Oak Park a week ago to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s first home and studio. I found the experience both anticlimactic and bracing. As an artist preoccupied with words, languages, and story telling, I often […]

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impatience joy mixed metaphors revision travel writing writing process

A Good Week for Editing

After working for ten years on a piece that was almost, but never quite, satisfactorily finished–I decided, inspired by the Matisse show “Paires et Series” I saw in Paris, that if I couldn’t get my story to behave as I had written it originally, and rewritten it countless times, perhaps it was time for a […]

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identity love The Imaginary travel

Philadelphia versus New York

As the time came to board the bus back to Philadelphia on Sunday night, after three really good days in New York City, I started feeling the usual: relief plus validation. Relief because I’m always happy to come home. I’m a little bit smug in the knowledge that I picked the right city to live […]

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identity memory travel

Salmon

I lived in New York City, Manhattan–so I’d get those spiffy envelopes that said it: New York New York, for five years right after college. I moved to Philly more than a decade ago, but when it came time for my 30th birthday, I had my party in New York City. This was an act […]

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travel

Touring in New Delhi: Random Observations

I finally had a day to tour Delhi. I saw a lot of wonderful, beautiful things, but every visit was tinged with the regret of unknown compromises. Would I have been happier getting a beautiful henna drawing on my hands or walking the streets and goign shopping with a local? Possibly. But I had made […]

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travel

India!

I originally wanted to call this blog post, India will have us by the throat (I’ll explain later). My first day here I thought that everyone was incredibly nice. That as much as I’ve been kindly treated and welcomed in Rio and Hong Kong, by far, people in India have been kinder and more welcoming. […]

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travel

Root Canal

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the words Root or Canal, the same way there’s nothing inherently wrong with the phrase Up All Night and the word Working. I’m not going to spell it out, but trust me, it’s bad. On the plus side of the equation, I found the most awesome blog: Feminist Ryan Gosling. […]

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identity travel

Delhi-riffic

I was thinking before I started my two plane travels to New Delhi of all the different rumors and murmurs you hear about India: That people respond so strongly, that it provokes and makes visitors think. I’m still in a fog of jetlag and Ambien, having gone to bed at 4am last night, but I […]

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identity travel

Does Pandora Mock Me?

I’m sitting brutally alone in a business class lounge, preparing for two long flights, and I’m by far the most awkward not-quite-first class duckling to walk these moderately well decked halls. In proof, who else would find herself strangling a full water bottle so that it splashes the fridge below and soaks the linens above. […]

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homework identity mission statement revision travel

The Rebalancing Act

I’m here to tell you how much I love working on my memoir manuscript. It engages a whole other part of my mind in a truly delightful, relaxing way. Okay, I may be lying about the relaxing part. Editing my memoir fills me with teeth grinding fear and hopeful gases. Yes, editing has physiological effects. […]

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travel

Sometimes You Need Something Delicious

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travel

Relaxed

I find it nearly impossible to write while on vacation. I’m too happy. My thoughts meander sideways. I’m absorbed by the new locale, and I am full of half formed reflections. My brain is busy contrasting my home town against Montreal, trying to imagine what it might be like to live here. I’m evaluating the […]