Europe

the center-left who cried wolf

an email from a friend in Gdansk

Thousands of Africans from countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Somalia and other countries languish under the disproportionate cold of eastern Europe as they wait at transit points and the border.

a winter in the Dolomites with my father-in-law

I lived in fear of the idea that if I didn’t abide by both customs I’d be disowned as a young adult from one of the lives that was defined by them. This tension defined how I grappled with the Christian faith, not in terms of understanding scripture, but rather in the spiritual connection I have with God.

The doctors tell my mum that the lump is nothing — a benign cyst that will be removed through a simple surgery. But prayer, myth, and tradition are insurance against all we cannot know and Nanna sends a donation and a letter to the monastery of her favorite saint: Saint Rita.

If I’ve learned anything this past year, living in a somewhat unstable foreign country during a vicious global pandemic, it’s to stay away from vaccines that sound like Captain Beefheart album titles.