I wrote this text on March 11, 2020. At the time, things looked grim, but I still hoped the pandemic would begin to drastically change the way we do things. As of yet, it has not. By the time I have children, all my childhood fears will have come true. Droughts and hurricanes take turns … Continue reading Four months on: still there
narrative
On clarity
If you asked me what I miss the most about working with children, I'd have to say it's the honesty. The clarity. To be told I look tired, "in the face and in the hair"; that they liked me better with my natural curls, or "before", with the "other colour"; "not saying you don't look … Continue reading On clarity
Quarantine Discoveries
As long as change is constant, there is no immutability in solitude. I have never before seen the shadow cast by the Monstera leaves on the floor at midday-I was never home when it happened. At night, I'd look down at the tiles as I took my shoes off and would only see a surface … Continue reading Quarantine Discoveries
Goals for the new normal
This was one of the last cups of coffee I had in a café before socially isolating. It was a white chocolate mocha, and one of the best beverages I've ever treated myself to. The Young Man Who Keeps To Himself made it-although I'd go there every day to write, I am so embarrassingly bad … Continue reading Goals for the new normal
Memories: The Good, The Bad and The Manipulated
©Andreea Ilie I dug out this picture from the 7,061 images laying dormant on my camera roll, waiting to be rediscovered as memories when their time came. And this time, it came with an unprecedented sense of awe and wonder, as I looked at past me and wanted to be in her shoes again. This, … Continue reading Memories: The Good, The Bad and The Manipulated
How to talk about it: when their child is not okay
At lunch, I sat next to a man who talked about his son's mental illness with the same openness and ease he'd just described his morning workout. Legs and a bit of cardio, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It was the first time he met his friend after a long period of travelling, changing jobs, being … Continue reading How to talk about it: when their child is not okay
The Fires
II We take the sight of the sky as a given, a right enshrined in our very constitution. I, for one, felt frustrated, more than I felt alarmed at first, every day that it was kept from me. In my mind, thousands of years of instinct declared the clouds should part soon or else…Or else … Continue reading The Fires
The Fires
I I hadn't posted the pictures before we left because I thought it would be over. In a futile act of magical thinking, I told myself they'll go up when the danger had passed; upload them before that, and it'll linger. The fire, I mean. You see, I thought I had a say. It was … Continue reading The Fires
“Asta”
În vara anului 2008, m-a ferit Dumnezeu de un internship la PSD. Pe atunci, locuiam și lucram în Londra, unde eram studentă, cu bursă. Nu a fost un miracol, nici vreo binecuvântare, nimic picat din cer- ci rezultatul unei încăpățânări native, a muncii constante și a sacrificiilor, dintre care lipsa unei vieți sociale, din copilărie … Continue reading “Asta”
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