For the better part of my twenty-one months living in Madrid, I visited heaps of coffee shops in the hopes of writing a blog called “Madrid’s Top Five Work-Friendly Coffee Shops” And as I finally write this post from one of Washington DC’s dozens of coffee shops (where everyone is engrossed in either a business […]
I recently returned from Paris after completing my third residency as part of New York University’s Paris Writers Program. Another year – and two more residencies to go – and hopefully I’ll have an MFA, and more importantly, a decent draft of my novel. Residencies in Paris are inspiring and exhausting. I love every minute […]
This summer is off to a busy start. With house guests, trips, and another residency for NYU’s Paris Writer’s Program, I’ve been neglecting this blog, and I’m sorry. I’m currently in Paris, hearing from famous authors such as Zadie Smith and Lydia Davis and generally pinching myself each day. While I’m trying to be present […]
I was on the Metro today with several classmates, talking about writing and a lecture we were coming from when a Parisian woman turned to us and said “Do you know that 20 people died?” Our conversation stopped abruptly. I felt too embarrassed to even exhale. I fiddled with my leopard gloves, passing them back […]
Yesterday morning when I was walking to class in Paris, the city was all police cars and sirens. Oblivious being that I am, I blocked out the noise, figuring perhaps Paris is often loud with sirens. Near Notre Dame, I realized there was a bomb siren going off. This I chalked up to “Oh, must […]
Happy 2015 from France! I’m back in Paris for installment two of my creative writing MFA program. Again, I am struck by how a city that smells of urine and is so gloomy (especially during this cold, gray January) can fill me with such delight. I’d venture a guess that it has to do something […]
This blog post marks my 100th since I started blogging shortly after arriving in Yemen in 2012. On August 23 of that year, I posted my first blog post, Marhaba from Yemen on YemenEm.com, which later became TheDameinSpain.com. Over nine months of living a (practically) cloistered life […]
When I was twenty and working at a newspaper in Michigan, I was assigned to cover a belly dancing class at the library. I arrived to a henna-haired women in her late fifties whooshing colored scarves around and instructing the four children who were participating. Four children. How was I supposed to write a story […]
I’m one of those stodgy people who refuses to own a Kindle. I know e-readers are super practical and all, but “I just like the feel of an actual book,” I’m known to say. (“I know an automobile is super fast and all, but I just like the feel of an actual horse, you know?” […]
I just spent ten intense and inspiring days in Paris as part of a New York University’s MFA creative writing program. I suspect it will take me weeks to process all the thought-provoking lectures and suggestions for my own writing that I received. Until more grand thoughts and plans of action emerge, here’s a quick […]
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