Life has been fast. Life has been full. Life has been busy. I’ve been building some dreams. I’ve been following some leads. I’ve been writing up a storm. I sit in a coffee shop downtown and I watch an actual storm through the window. Cars splash in puddles. Lights reflect on the pavement. We’re all … More Hangover
I don’t know how to start writing about you, so I thought I’d break the writer’s block by writing to you. After six nights and seven days spent within the depths of you, I left a piece of my heart behind in your waters. It’s hard to explain to others what this is, and it’s … More Dear Everglades—
She was a girl about 11 years old. She was walking with who I assumed was her mother. She had a backpacking pack strapped on to her as she walked up a steep hill in her neighborhood. I imagined she was preparing for an upcoming camping trip, possibly her first hike into the true wilderness. … More From Girl Power to Women’s Empowerment: “You Can’t Retire from this Movement”
My toes were a combination of numb and painful. It was below freezing on a Friday night in the District of Columbia, and I was spending it walking around Capitol Hill talking to people living life unsheltered. I handed Dan and Jenny each a cup of hot chocolate, as they playfully teased me for the … More Conversations with God: Being a Servant
I slinked outside into the night to call my mom. She asked how my trip had been and I swallowed hard and told her that it had been great. We discussed birds and alligators and the weather. And the whole time I just kept hoping that she’d see straight through me and ask me what … More Conservation Efforts for Slow Thinking: Lessons from Everglades National Park
I used to humor myself by judging the monotony of workplace elevator conversations—you know, the typical, “How’s it going?” met with a, “Well, the weekend was too short.” Then one day, I got on an elevator with a man who asked the question, “How’s it going?” and I pulled one of the expected responses from … More Metro: To Talk or Not to Talk?
To quote myself, quoting someone else, a crisis can be defined as such, “(1) a crucial stage or turning point, and (2) an unstable or precarious situation.” Yesterday, I had officially lived for a quarter of a century, and although technically, based on Wikipedia’s current life expectancy of 81 for a female living in the … More Quarter-life Crisis
My relationship with D.C. started as an arranged marriage. Coming out of college as a Planning, Public Policy and Management major with an urge to be a part of the work that changes social structures, my union with D.C. was predestined. We did not immediately fall in love. But, a little over a year ago, … More I’m in Love
No. We’re not all social workers. We’re not all extroverts, we don’t always feel safe, and we don’t always know what to do. However, I would wager that when most of us see someone in need, we want to help. I work on homelessness issues, and the numbers I see in my research are disheartening. … More The Man in Chinatown: What You Can Do to Help
It has taken me a long time to write this. Sitting down to do so has been an arduous task. Every time I’ve committed hours of my day to telling this story, to capturing it for eternity into words, I’ve found other projects, tasks, or naps on which to focus. The tale is one that … More The Chevy and Me, A Hero’s Journey: History and the Call to Adventure
ROUGH OUTLINES 