Spinning and spinning, I hoped that I, too, would transform into Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter’s portrayal of the character in the television series from 1975 to 1979 is etched into my two-year-old psyche. Her armbands still come to mind when I seek protection, and the memory of her transformative spin Read more…
In a sparse room that smells of antiseptic and efficiency, the Physician’s Assistant asks me a litany of questions, marking down numbers and checking off boxes while she collects the data points that determine where I land on the health chart. Once complete, I dare to ask a question of Read more…
“The great and amorous sky curved over the earth, And lay upon her as a pure lover. The rain, the humid flux descending from heaven For both man and animal, for both thick and strong, germinated the wheat, swelled the furrows with fecund mud and brought forth the buds in Read more…
The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey appears as one with the small rocky island on the coast of Normandy, France. With its spires pointing to the heavens, the buildings look as though they are floating on the waters. The islet is inaccessible when the tide closes in, the ocean fortifying the abbey from Read more…
During a recent wellbeing fair, I attended a mental health workshop on preventing burnout. Surprisingly, I learned that over half of US employees express feelings of burnout, a startling enough trend that companies are working to mitigate its effects. Some time later, while listening to Episode 24 of The Podcast Read more…
On a journey to a cave in the midst of the Belizean forest, I lost my way. Mesmerized by the lush surroundings, I fell behind the procession. I looked ahead, and no one was in front of me. Alone, my heart started racing in fear. I did not know where Read more…
Parenting teenagers is not for the faint of heart. As a mother of two, I try to keep my finger on the pulse of their current experience. Teen angst evolves with the challenges of each generation, and storytelling has a way of providing a window of continuity and comfort into Read more…
The hermitage offers the seclusion required to hear one’s inner voice, a knowing that is often drowned out in the noise and bustle of daily life or, even worse, silenced by society’s enculturation. For people like me, breaking through the internalized restrictions of society requires an internal struggle, our own Read more…
I pulled the card, turned it over, and there it was…Death. My stomach turned at the sight of it. It was a sunny day in New Orleans and I was captured by the atmosphere of the city. Having my Tarot cards read seemed adventurous at the time, after all, a Read more…
The morning news reads like a dystopian novel. After five years of studying apocalyptic writing, I imagined I would be able to achieve an academic distance from a global pandemic in order to observe as new patterns emerge. The reality has been quite the opposite, I spend most mornings consumed Read more…