One of the final factors that convinced me to make the move to Asheville was the close proximity of the Cherokee Reservation. I’ve long been interested in Native American culture and thought living close to a reservation could be one…
Growing up with a brother who was four years my elder, I always felt that I balanced myself between traditional “girl” and “boy” activities. I could play quietly with my Barbie dolls or help my brother sumo slam his WWF…
Every time I’ve gone away on vacation I’ve chosen to turn off my cell phone, stay in a place without TV, and intentionally leave my laptop behind and every time I came back feeling refreshed and happy. I realized in…
Working full-time in an independent bookstore, I find myself reading more than ever before. I finally have not only time, but motivation to make reading a daily part of my life. One of the many perks of my job is…
Fall has finally descended upon Western North Carolina. Nights are sharp and cool. During the day the sun shines bright through brilliant gold, red, and orange leaves. The landscape in the distance is a patchwork of color climbing up rows…
One morning in May I came into work to discover that every file that I’d saved from the previous seven months had been deleted from my computer. Later that morning the principal made an announcement to teachers to back up…
One of the main reasons why I decided to leave classroom teaching was because no matter how hard I tried to balance work with free time, my teaching duties always trumped everything else. Even when I was able to carve…
I was thirteen when I first realized that the rest of the English speaking world didn’t talk like me.
For most of my life I told others that I was allergic to cats and dogs. It was a story I’d turned into truth, convincing myself most of all with this matter-of-fact declaration. It wasn’t until my late twenties that…
July 5, 2015, my car packed full, I set out for a city I’d seen only in pictures, to a place where no one would know my name. I had no job waiting for me, no safety net, only the…