I never really understood Black Friday, especially with its ties to Thanksgiving. Why do we spend a day being grateful for what we have and immediately follow it with a day full of indulgence and consumerism? And every year it gets worse; Black Friday has slowly encroached on Thanksgiving itself, allowing blowout sales to disrupt [...]
I used to think journaling was a waste of my time. What is the point of journaling when nothing makes each day different from the next? Shouldn’t I be prioritizing living in the moment instead of capturing moments that have already passed? I only committed to journaling when I thought that the events qualified as [...]
The outdoors has served as an important and unexpected backdrop for my life. For the past eight years or so, I have found it necessary for my body and mind to spend some time outdoors, exploring the natural wonders around me. In some cases, these journeys have taken me far from my home. But others [...]
A few weeks ago, the New York Times released an opinion entitled “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.” The essay was adapted from author Sherry Turkle’s most recent book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age. The article went viral; I saw it all over my Facebook news feed and across my email lists, [...]
My parents deny the existence of the patriarchy. When I first mentioned the word to my dad, he immediately became offended, thinking that I was directly criticizing him and all other men by using the term. I tried to explain to him that the patriarchy is a system in which we live; we are all [...]
