At 10:30pm on the night of March 7th 2014, it was time to wake up. I crawled out of my sleeping bag and, in the light of my headlamp, put on almost every piece of clothing I had packed. This was the night that I would hike from the base camp to the summit of […]
When I moved to South Africa, as a small-town girl from Michigan, I was intimidated. I saw myself as an easy victim in a dangerous country. I told myself that I would probably get mugged at some point. Accepting that possibility didn’t make it more or less likely, but it limited the potential of that […]
San Antonio We met at a work conference in Texas. I was the only person from my company at the event, so I had no one to pass the time with and no one to explain myself to. I wanted to meet someone. I didn’t care that it was trite to pick up someone at a conference, […]
There is one aspect of myself that makes me different. It is not something I would change if I could and honestly I don’t feel that I can. It is noteworthy only because there are more people who aren’t like me than who are. But it is not inherently odd, really it’s just another size […]
If there something in your life that hurts more than it helps, that keeps you from yourself: you must end it. For years you told yourself “it’s not that bad”, tolerated its intrusion, found ways to coexist- and so it persisted. You felt you had control, that you were winning the fight. No need for a drastic […]
I know that you are human and that you have depth and that you are infinitely more complex than I will ever have the capacity to comprehend. But. Let’s put that aside for the sake of discussion and pretend that you and I and everyone is just a little blob of energy, emanating out in […]
Transcript of my Moth Story Hour Submission, Subject: Vices All my life I have been building: making plans, gaining knowledge, forming relationships, accumulating possessions. But for nine years there has been an insidious black mold in the foundation of my life’s structure that undermines everything I pile on top of it. My vice goes by […]
Remember learning about the “discovery of America” in elementary school? It was easy to be impressed by the valiant explorers setting off across the sea. I was easy to imagine doing the same if only you were born in the right century. How did those brave explorers prepare for a trip from which they might never […]
On a trip to Germany years ago, I was chastised by complete strangers while riding the subway on two separate occasions. The first time, I was drinking a beer (legal in public but not legal on the train apparently) and the second time, I had my feet up on the seat opposite (not quite illegal […]
My submission to The Moth Ann Arbor Story SLAM topic: “Home” Video available here. I grew up in the small town of Chelsea, Michigan. And when I went to college I attended The University of Michigan, only 15 miles away. What this means is that, for the first couple decades of my life, my world was […]
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