The stories I will live by

My pandemic isolation began on March 12. At first, I welcomed the days spent alone at home. And though I felt stressed about having to suddenly pivot and shift my classes online, I relished not having to rush out of the house every morning. But as the days turned to weeks and then months, a strange sort of loneliness set in and I found it dangerously easy to slip into a morose mood.

Determined not to spiral downward, I began posting about the things that made me smile in this strange and trying time when the news seemed to get worse by the day. COVID-19 had killed more than 100,000 Americans. Millions were unemployed. Countless businesses shuttered, maybe forever. And then America exploded over police brutality against people of color. The Black Lives Matter movement that had been born years ago was again at the forefront of our collective consciousness. Continue readingThe stories I will live by

Hello, 2018…

…I am glad you are here. Finally. I have been waiting for you to arrive for a very long time. 2017 was not kind to me. It was probably the most difficult year since 2001. That was the year that I witnessed massive death and destruction after an earthquake in India and months later, the …

They own nothing. ZERO.

  A few weeks ago, when President Barack Obama visited India, I wrote a piece for CNN about how my homeland was poised to become a global power in the next few decades. The most recent World Bank forecast says growth in India is likely to outdo China’s. But then came a sobering reminder of …

Water, water, everywhere: Gaining perspective on New Year's Day

The boat docked at Uros Island. Jose came to meet us with a smile on his face and a totora reed in his left hand. Totora are the living reeds that float around Lake Titicaca, a massive body of water between Peru and Bolivia that is almost 13,000 feet in elevation. It’s known as the …

I'm living in twilight

“Oh, oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I’m living in twilight.” That was Electric Light Orchestra singing a song about a man wishing his love would just pick up the phone. Back then, it was probably a phone that looked a lot like this one at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. …

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