- Continuare “C’era una volta…” I began, to answer the question of Michele, our Roman professor for this semester. I gathered to myself that if I started out with a pithy English idiom in Italian (“Once upon a time…”), I could fool everyone into thinking that I have a lot more comprehension than is true. A few days […]
- Istanbul, by way of Genova I may have my roots set deep in southern Italy, but it makes me happy to see old Genovese footprints in part of this ancient city. (Did you know that Istanbul is one of my favorites?) This photo (that I did not take) is from Beyoğlu, an area on the European side of Istanbul. In […]
- 8/ I Remember Italy’s Streetlights I remember studying in Rome for a semester and crawling all across that beautiful Italian boot, my great-grandparents’ land. I fell in love with many things, streetlights especially. In my tattered journals I started documenting the particularities of their personalities and differences. Every Italian city has a street-lit variation on the same theme. I remember how […]
- Retirement Savings When I think about saving for retirement, I only want to put money in a little jar labeled “Mediterranean vineyard.” All I would like to retire to is a tiny plot of land in Italy where I can let all of my hair go silver. I will cook things and read and write and just […]
- Let’s be a Sign, a Wonder Do men feel comfortable with being called “beautiful”? I have this idea that most men would see this sign and presume it doesn’t apply to them. I’m assuming beauty is associated with the feminine in much of Western cultures. Am I way off? But then I keep thinking of the Italians and how often they […]
- Raining / Pouring / An Old Man Somewhere is Snoring Whilst trying to be a full-time grad student (RE: Theology), I am also attempting to be a small-business entrepreneur (RE: Copywriting/Editing). In my off-mornings I am a barista. And to cool-down in the afternoons I play dodgeball and tutor middle school students at a local non-profit. I’ve had an uncanny amount of work with the […]
- Truths on a Tricycle Once again, thank you, Joshua Heineman. [ Good man of Cursive Buildings. ]
- I Remember Rilke in Rome, in 1999 I remember being nineteen and in Rome, studying art and history. I remember reading a little golden book by Rainer Maria Rilke called Letters to a Young Poet. Kristin was in grad school, and she was a fine mentor to me–giving me careful books to read and hope to push into heart. I remember these […]
- A Great Pregnancy; or, Christmas in July (From my all-time favourite little book, Letters to a Young Poet, letter 6) RomeDecember 23, 1903 My dear Mr. Kappus, I don’t want you to be without a greeting from me when Christmas comes and when you, in the midst of the holiday, are bearing your solitude more heavily than usual… Why don’t you think […]
- Ajuda Me A few nights ago I dreamt that I was back at a cafe in Portugal, ordering pastries and coffee in the early evening. It was the first dream I’ve had in a long while where I was speaking Portuguese, not English. After ordering my milky galao, the sassy-pants barista demanded that I order an aperitif […]
- What I’ve Been Working On If you would like to know what I’ve been working on, here is one thing. I recently finished a project for my class on Ministering to Street Children, and I got the wild idea to submit it as a blog-article, rather than just a boring paper (with an extra-large title…) “Listening to the Marginalized Voices […]
- Most Vivid Dreams – Part 3 Last night I had another incredibly vivid dream. I’m sure part of it was born out of one of my classes at Fuller: Ministering to Street Children. I was in Italy, sitting on the second floor of an apartment that faced the street. It was a gloomy, rainy day, and I was looking out the […]