February 12, 2021 Of Fernweh and Fast Cars Fernweh. I remember first hearing that word in college in Pittsburgh, sitting next to a teammate of mine who had just about as much of the travel bug as I did back then. We were no more than nineteen or twenty, sitting and staring at maps, language books, and googling flight prices. The literal meaning of the word is something I have experienced many times in my life: far-sickness.
February 1, 2020 It’s About Time… It’s officially been seven months since I moved back home from Taiwan, and I gotta say, things are settled. They have been settled for quite some time, but I wish it would have happened sooner, because I had many plans for my books to be released this year. That’s right, books.
December 21, 2019 Ballads and Boys “Abbie, are you coming or not?” I peeked my head out of my bedroom, peering down the hallway. Izzy, my roommate, stood next to the door with her arms crossed, clutching her cell phone tightly in one hand and her dorm keys in the other. Checking my watch, I widened my eyes.
October 19, 2019 Breaking Curfew Later, we all retreated to the dormitory. After spending just a few days there, the hallway of beds had become somewhere of a new home to us. I had left clothes all over the floor, like Mom hated for me to do. The twins had manifested posters of their favorites bands and plastered them to the walls, much to their parents’ dismay, whom had left on another operation right after dinner. Thomas, beside me, had changed the white coloring of the old bed sheets to an evergreen, while his sister opted for a light purple color. This was all fine and dandy, as Grandma had told us, as long as we reversed them before we returned home.
October 12, 2019 Pencils, Snakes, Perdita, Oh My! Compared to our house, the Nigari house was like traveling a century into the future. All you could see when you came up to their front door was glass, covering nearly every inch of the exterior. Their walls were as plain, except for the perfectly measured picture frames that showed off their family: Kyle, Nikita, Thomas, and his older sister, Lula. Everything about their house screamed the Jetsons to me.
August 17, 2019 Stumbling Sophomores “Come on, I know you don’t want to, but he really wants to meet you,” Angela pleaded as we walked out of the double doors into the fading afternoon sun. Not a cloud was in the sky, but all my books were in my book bag piled high. It would be, as usual, another long day at the library for us.
August 10, 2019 Through the Embers Trudging through the dried up fall leaves, I kept my eyes focused on the orange flames of the campfire. Everywhere else around me was dark and dead, as I would be if I was found red handed.
June 22, 2019 On the Road Again It was only two hours into the road trip and due to poor decisions, both Arie and Sam were curled up in the middle row, snoring and sound asleep. If Mom and Dad weren’t here, I’d consider drawing on their faces in permanent marker. But Mom and Dad sat in the front, talking about what music to play and what we were going to do when we got there. The only thing I cared about in their entire conversation was the topic of lunch. Breakfast had been nothing more than bagels.
March 10, 2019 The Tragedy at Kingston Manor If it wasn’t for the full moon overhead, all of Boyston Lane would have been pitch black. A dim light lit some of the walkway, just enough so that anyone could see how dead quiet the neighborhood was, not that it was bustling normally. Boyston Lane was one of the safest parts of Oak Park, thus no one batted an eye. August 14th was just any other ordinary evening for the residents.
February 6, 2019 Taking on Taiwan: The (Not so) Skinny on Street Food If you’ve ever been to America, grew up, or lived in America at some point during your life, chances are you have been to a farmer’s market or two. You’ve walked along the street, glancing at all the fresh produce and baked goods, and tested a couple of items before you decided to purchase something, or maybe walk over to the corner store to pick up something different. Open air markets, from my experience, were not a plenty in Taiwan. Which is why upon coming to Taiwan, night markets were one of the most amazing spectacles I’d ever laid my eyes on.
