If you open my fridge, there is at least a 50% chance you’ll see a container of freshly-made pesto. I can’t get enough of the bright, herbal, nutty condiment and I make a big batch a few times a month. Usually, I make enough to last for several days, although it never seems to last […]
First, I’ve more or less recovered from my everything is broken phase. Fixed my bike brake, swept up most of the shards of glass, and recovered much of my novel (in earlier drafts anyway, but a little rewriting can only be a good thing). I did shatter my iPhone in Ikea the other day, […]
The following things have broken in the past week: My bicycle brakes: I’ve become a biker out of necessity. After a deal to buy a car from a Chinese diplomat fell through, I decided I better get over my mild fear of city biking. We simply live too far out, are not allowed to take […]
When we first set eyes on our dreary Jerusalem apartment, located in a complex that abuts a field of trash, we weren’t stoked, to say the least. But that’s the rub with this whole Foreign Service being-assigned-a-house thing: Sometimes you get winners, like our spacious and well-located Madrid pad, and sometimes you get dropped in […]
I recently returned from wonderful, romantical Paris, where I completed the fourth residency of my graduate MFA program in creative writing. (Just one more left!). This trip to Paris was especially good. Mr. Jerusal-Em came for a few days and we celebrated New Year’s Eve in the cozy home of friends, walked around Montmarte, and […]
Last weekend, hoping to catch the Christmas spirit, I went on a tour of Bethlehem (which is just a 15-minute drive from Jerusalem, a fact I was totally oblivious to until arriving here two months ago). While my new city is the place where Jesus is believed to have died and been resurrected, Jerusalem […]
One time I was walking on U Street in Washington DC, holding hands with my boyfriend, when an older black man said to us with a smile, “It’s just so good to see a man and a woman holding hands in this neighborhood, you know? I still think about my lack of reaction and wish […]
I’m three-quarters of the way through the low-residency MFA program at New York University and I can say with some confidence that after three intensive residencies in Paris, monthly writing deadlines, and the mentorship of several accomplished authors, I am now a better writer. I can also say with confidence that because I am a […]
We’ve been in our new city for 10 days now and each day I decide to put off blogging a little longer until I get a better feel for the place that will be our home for the next three years. “Jerusalem is a complicated place,” everyone keeps telling us. I’m already seeing a bit […]
After some serious biscuit-eating in Charleston, South Carolina, a visit to Mr. Dame in Spain’s hometown of Atlanta, and a two-night stay on our friend’s family farm outside of Knoxville, we were off to pay homage to our favorite booze: Bourbon. We arrived in Louisville, Kentucky with an ambitious plan: To visit all nine official […]
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