Blogs from Springfield, Virginia, United States, North America

Went into Washington DC today to do an open top bus tour with Rene O'Brien Harlow and Bill Harlow (Big Bus Tour of Washington D.C.) An impressive array of museums, monuments and galleries The Washingtonians have put their 'awl and their all' toward embedding their constitutional pride into the landscape. Towering majestic monuments and impressive museum collections testify to the founding (fathers' you will note) principles There is a gob smacking array of monumental and well kept symbols of American freedoms. One of our tour guides Fowzia (pseudonym) was full of insights and amusing anecdotes As an American born Muslim - she was notably sensitive to landmarks of ethnic significance - keen to point out the broken Swastika of the Holocaust Museum, highlighting the newer African American Museum and its popularity, the symbolism of the American ... read more

I spent my teen years in Vermont partying around a bonfire in fields, attending a high school with a severe drug problem and organized on a semi-democratic system. Of course, I read On the Road. Kerouac and his literary legacy were sacred to most of my wide eyed, Marx-ing, vegetarian school mates. For the energetic, experimental twenty somethings of the time, the beats ushered them into adulthood. Kind of. Sadly relevant, On the Bro'd is a translation of Kerouac's American classic that speaks to a much more recent generation of highfives and popped collars with references to The Situation, Oasis, Wild Wings, Facebook, flip cup, and Hustler mags. But then they strutted down the streets like total pimps, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after bros who interest me, because ... read more

My first real bout of homesickness came when I was trying to set up my new home in D.C. I thought it was just going to be a transition. I wasn't changing, I was just changing locations, something I had come to believe I had become pretty talented at over the years. I had left Savannah in search of more opportunity. My relationship with that city had become unhealthy and tired out. The only thing I really seemed to have accomplished while there was getting people drunk by serving cheap beer down by the river and saving up for frequent trips somewhere else. D.C. held potential, it held glamour. It was my radiant, shining Oz at the end of the road that provided hearts, brains, courage, opportunity and home. So as I carried the last ... read more

Wow!... read more

In my first post I mentioned that preparation was part of the journey. It’s also a great way to not feel so overwhelmed and anxious about such huge life changes. Budgets, timelines, and maps don’t sound exciting compared to the vastness of the Grand Canyon or the majesty of Mount Rushmore, but in the very stressful time between deciding to pick up and leave everything familiar and actually setting off, it can ease the nervousness. Okay, in reality budgets, maps, and timelines aren’t EVER exciting, but they are a little bit like a security blanket. In fact, Excel spreadsheets are a bit like Prozac for me. When I am super stressed out or questioning the wisdom of this move, I turn to Excel. (Sorry hubby, but Excel never argues or talks back ) I have ... read more