"There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own Dorothy Ann Pancoast (nee Bercher) was born in Cicero, Illinois in November of 1923. Her mother called her Dots. Cicero was a small town, and…
The Tiny Planet of Oslo: An Odd Little Video
The next two minutes and thirty-one seconds will be the some of the most bizarre you've ever spent thinking about Oslo. GoPro cameras have enabled humans to make some pretty incredible videos. My favorite is, of course, Lions - The New Endangered Species? Lion group hug! This vid is less…
Early Morning Run in Oslo
At six o'clock in the morning the streets of Oslo are almost empty. An overcast sky shades every corner, every park, every closed cafe patio gray. The light breeze is welcome after several consistently hot weeks. Leaves are still tightly bound to the branches of the full, green, summer trees.…
A Moth's Tale
At a supermarket bakery in Bardufoss, Norway, Jonathan and I shared a baguette and waited for the pizza joint across the street to open at noon. The eating area at the Coop had quite a few tables inside. Older men chuckled and chatted in one corner, at a table which,…
Missing Christianity (or, Why I am Still a Christian)
Not long ago, I read an article on BuzzFeed which caught the attention, once shared, of a large subset of my friends. Titled Why I Miss Being a Born-Again Christian , the op-ed related the Jessica Misener's journey from accepting Christ as her personal Lord and Savior at the age of…
Fun, Fireworks & FOJSBO: Missing a Livermore 4th of July
Though we're currently celebrating America's Independence Day in Oslo for the fourth time in a row, and though we're watching soccer as part of that celebration, Jonathan and I do miss lots of things about being home for this wonderful holiday. I rooted around through our photo bank for a…
Like a girl. Like a boss.
In high school, I had a poster taped up in my bedroom that read: You run like a girl. You hit like a girl. You throw like a girl. You serve 60 mph in their face like a girl. Which, I think, is why I kicked so much ass. But…
Twice Eggs by Alex Johnson: A Review
I gifted myself two hours of reading time today, over lunch. At hand was Twice Eggs , a new essay from Alex Johnson, one of my mentors at Lesley University, and a writer I deeply admire. Approaching her new work, I looked forward to hearing Alex's voice again--that effortless intelligence and…