February 2012
9 posts
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Ten fine examples of female long form journalism →
In honor of the death of UK Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin, read my list of stories written by ladies who ventured where few people dare. See the full list at EcoSalon
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The Disadvantages of an Elite Education
But being an intellectual is not the same as being smart. Being an intellectual means more than doing your homework. If so few kids come to college understanding this, it is no wonder. They are products of a system that rarely asked them to think about something bigger than the next assignment. The system forgot to teach them, along the way to the prestige admissions and the lucrative jobs,...
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Behind the Veil in Kuala Lumpur
The formidable Margaret Thatcher once said that if you want something done, you should give it to a woman. I would argue that if you want something done in extreme heat, give it to a particular group of women who, each and every day, provide a tremendous testament to the adaptability and resilience of females.
Walking through Masjid Jamek, the oldest mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (a...
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“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.”
– -Pablo Picasso.
The idea that mental space and lack of outside stimulation is necessary for creative productivity is becoming more and more apparent to me.
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January 2012
11 posts
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“When Marxists are complaining that your party’s candidates are disconnected from...”
– Thomas Friedman, NYTimes Sunday Review
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Africa is...
Heat, vivid colors, orange Fanta, soccer, Vodacom, hustle, minibus taxis, rhythm, resourcefulness, diesel fuel, insects, hard work, top-of-the-head balance, song & dance, warm nights, an unforgiving sun.
“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be...”
– Neil Gaiman (via thekendrafeed)
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Suitcase Travel: On Living Light
Anyone who has ever tried to haul oversize suitcases along city streets, onto buses and trains, or up the stairs of a subway platform is well acquainted with the less glamorous side of travel. There are the sweat-stains, the fear of being mugged whilst carrying everything you own, the inopportune dropping of documents, and the desperate search for somebody, anybody, to help you carry your...
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Reef Wisdom
When I was a kid growing up in Malibu, I used to love going to the tide pools with my dad and our dog when the tide at Trancas Point was at its lowest. Even when I got older and didn’t need my dad to get there anymore, I still continued visiting on my own to pick up sea stars and walk through the caves that were exposed at low tide.
At the time, I remember wondering what would happen to...
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Farewell Britannia (for now)
After two weeks in Asia and a brief two day stop-over in London, it’s time for me to head to warmer climes for a couple months. Bidding farewell to the Big Smoke in the middle of winter feels kind of cheeky, but I sincerely hope and plan to return in the spring time. Now, after a little more than 6 months of living here, I feel that I am just barely qualified to make a list of my favourite...
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Joan versus Hunter
Women who encountered Joan Didion when they were young received from her a way of being female and being writers that no one else could give them. She was our Hunter Thompson, and Slouching Towards Bethlehem was our Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He gave the boys twisted pig-fuckers and quarts of tequila; she gave us quiet days in Malibu and flowers in our hair. “We were somewhere around...
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Mamak Magic
Like many wanderlusting, travel writer wannabes, I’m more than a little obsessed with Anthony Bourdain. My list of reasons is long: there’s my respect for his witty and acerbic writing style, my complete envy of his occupation, and the fact that in the late seasons of No Reservations (once he shed his scrawny physique and tacky cutoff t-shirts), you have to admit he’s kind of...
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SE Asia is...
Flip flops, motorbikes, jack fruit, palm oil, rice & noodles, temples & mosques, Chang & Tiger beer, moving clouds, Milo, street food, shopping malls, fish, chicken & beef, tuk tuks & taxis, plastic chairs, good & bad smells, fresh fruit, Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists… and many more
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Sometimes, it's better to travel than to arrive
Travel, first and foremost, is a privilege— most people don’t get to explore the world at will. In addition, if you do it enough and for long enough periods of time, travel also becomes a state of mind.
I find it really hard to break out of this mindset when I return to familiarity. When everything’s familiar and nothing is a challenge, I feel ambivalent and uninspired. But when...
December 2011
19 posts
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“In my lame pescetarian defense, it’s very hard to be a girl and to say you...”
– Sloane Crosley
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“We travel, in essence, to become young fools again – to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.”
—Pico Iyer from Ecosalon’s wanderlustin’ list of travel quotations.
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“Advertising has tripled the level of our consumption and it is now a very...”
– Kalle Lasn, founder and editor in chief of Adbusters magazine. Read the rest of my interview with him as well as my story about how advertising affects our attitude towards the environment at the Ecologist.
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“Even if the dream isn’t real, the dreamers are. There’s something...”
– From ‘Schemes of my Father’ by Eric Puchner. Makes me miss my state.
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“Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
– Gloria Steinem
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My Job as Eye-Candy in the Recession-Era Economy
Not too long ago, I was hanging out in a London nightclub, beer in hand, friends in tow, talking to some British guy I hadn’t the faintest interest in. During a particularly agonizing bout of small talk, this gentleman asked me what I was doing in London. I told him I was writing for a magazine. He was confused.
“You’re too pretty to write for a magazine,” he said bluntly. “Shouldn’t you,...
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“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
– C.S. Lewis
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Current Fixations:
1. Frozen planet:
2. Aljazeera English- particularly this opinion piece (WHY has no one told me that I should be reading this daily?)
3. The Jimi Hendrix Christmas album aka the only Christmas music I can tolerate:
4. Running with the deer in Richmond Park (channeling my inner antelope), instead of Christmas shopping.
5. Sixties supermodels and Mini Coopers, a natural combination:
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November 2011
10 posts
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“The small business is the idealized social form of our time. Our culture hero is...”
– From the Entrepreneurial Generation courtesy of the NYT. I feel like I’m a part of this.
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Why I want to be a science journalist... →
Courtesy of the always amazing Radio Lab, from WNYC.
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“Plans are great. But missions are better. Missions survive when plans fail, and...”
– Seth Godin a.k.a. the Man.
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Why America Hate is Outdated
A few months ago, I moved from one side of the Atlantic to the other, toting little more than a UK passport and a desire to understand the country from which my entire family hails.
Prior to this transplant, the only vaguely British things about me were my claim to citizenship—thanks to my father’s use of the British Nationality Act—and my...
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October 2011
19 posts
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