Chapel Hill, North Carolina is a lovely college town often graced with beautiful weather and scenery. After spending nearly four years here, I have found countless tasty bites, reading nooks, and relaxing natural areas. I feel lucky to spend a bit of my life here. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get away…
Why you should read fiction according to science
Allow me to dispel a myth for you: reading fiction is not a waste of time. There is an everpresent anxiety about reading for adults, especially for people in their 20’s. Which book to read next? How much time to dedicate to reading? It seems like everyone is either anxious to be reading the most…
Breaking the rules for creative writing
When people ask me for writing advice, I find that they have often carried certain writing “rules” with them from early schooling. When children are first learning how to write narratives or creative pieces, they are taught certain tricks to help them practice and expand their vocabulary as well as “grab the reader’s attention.” There…
Game Like A Girl
I live with two boys. A third is over so often that honestly, I might as well live with him too. I grew up with a big brother who I absolutely adored, and my best friend was a boy who lived across the street. As a child I never cared much for dolls or princesses,…
Letting go of my first love — cow’s milk
Every morning before elementary school I drank a tall glass of Nesquik chocolate milk. It was the chocolate flavoring powder that you stir into the milk, and my mom knew just how many spoonfuls were necessary to make it taste just right (Dad never seemed to figure it out). I sometimes had multiple cups per…
My first glance at Berlin, Germany
From the moment I stepped into SFX, the international airport located in the southern outskirts of Berlin, I knew Germans had a unique relationship with their electronics. There were cafes selling croissants with apricot jams, mall-like areas glowing with chocolates wrapped in gold foils and “I heart Berlin” refrigerator magnets, and baristas with hair back…
The Trench: When you’re good enough to know your work isn’t good
It’s the most common place for creatives to give up on their dreams— that spot where you know enough about your craft to realize how utterly unimpressive your work is. It’s when you realize how far away you are from your goals and wonder if your work is even worth creating. This is where people…
Wonder Woman isn’t even about women, but that’s not what I’m most upset about
Last week I watched Wonder Woman, a DC Comics superhero film that grossed $821 million worldwide and was named Best Action Movie at the 23rd Critics’ Choice Awards. This Warner Bros. Pictures film is ranked number 2 on the Rotten Tomatoes list of “Best Superhero Movies of All Time” and received 93% “fresh” on the…
From EMT School to Polo Fields — Why all your experiences matter
I often hear classmates and co-workers grieving their “wasted time” at internships or in classes that don’t align with their current dream job and ambitions. It’s frustrating to think about what could have been done with that time, and what doors those “more useful” experiences could have opened. It’s even worse for students who are…
The problem with scratch-off maps
I know you’ve seen them — those world maps advertised on Instagram and Facebook that can be scratched with coins to indicate which countries a person has visited. They come in a variety of colors, some featuring flags or stereotypical symbols of the region. Many are advertised in frames to suggest that a well-scratched map…