Why, suddenly, even the familiar is capable of masking itself as unfamiliar.
August 21, 2020
August 16, 2020
August 2, 2020
100 Days: Evening Walks
Most nights after dinner, no matter how wonderful or heated our mealtime discussions were, Mom and I found ourselves wandering around our neighborhood, gathering landscaping inspiration, admiring dogs, waving to neighbors we didn't know. We'd try to alternate routes or discover new ones, but our feet typically traced the footsteps of nights before.
July 26, 2020
100 Days: Institute Woods
Few places provide me the same peace, comfort, and quiet as the woods. There, the only sounds are leaves rustling, birds calling to one another, and the soft thump of my sneakers sinking into early spring dirt. I look up and around at the canopy that towers high above my head. Stooping down, there's a microcosm of insects that catch my eye, scurrying busily, perhaps unaware I'm watching.
When I began to live and work in other places, I realized I craved the rich greenery I grew up with. Looking out the windows on my train rides home after a long day in the city, I'd feel my mind slow its pace as I watched the scenery shift from a grey, concrete jungle to forests, alive and breathing.
June 28, 2020
Hello from Hungary: An Evening on the Danube
When the heat of the day has shifted to a cool breeze, it's time to trade your adventurer's sneakers for a glass of champagne and a seat on a river cruise.
June 21, 2020
Hello from Hungary: Day Trip to Szentendre
Tin-Lok and Zsuzsanna, our expert (and beloved) guides, made the trek from their home into Budapest to take us to Szentendre by train - after a breakfast of raspberry pie from McDonald's. We're so grateful for our friends' generous time and gracious hospitality. Through them, we were able to taste, literally and figuratively, more of Hungary than we would have on our own.
June 14, 2020
Hello from Hungary: The Pest Side
I didn't have a car to drive in college, and with an infrequent public transportation system, I got used to walking. The repetitive motion of walking through my usual paths gave me time to clear my head and calm down in the middle of an agenda-filled day without worrying I'd miss my destination.
Walking also helped me see my campus differently. I noticed when my favorite trees started changing color. I paid attention to the sunrise reflected in a puddle. Not only was the repetitiveness of walking calming, it made me a more observant photographer, sensitizing me to unique compositions that I would've easily overlooked had I zoomed by in a car.
June 7, 2020
Hello from Hungary: Budapest's Jewish Quarter || Remembering for Reconciliation
Ghetto Memorial Wall, Budapest, Hungary June 2019 |
There are so many feelings but so few words to express them.
We were standing on the bank of the Danube this time last year. And one year later, we are living a new, surreal reality - a new "normal." The pain, grief, and burdens that our brothers and sisters carry in their bones, passed down like genes, ought not to be normal. You can feel it, can't you? Deep within your core, the invisible but deadly things that are destroying our world - be it germs, capitalistic greed, or the sin of racism - are not right. We're divinely anointed with an innate sense of "what ought to be." We know this isn't it.
May 31, 2020
May 23, 2020
Postcards from: Vienna
Palaces, operas, sachertorte - there are plenty of reasons to visit Austria's glimmering capital. It's steeped in a rich musical heritage, from Mozart and Beethoven to today's Vienna Boys' Choir. And if you're a facade lover, you don't have to step much farther from its baroque streets. Vienna's imperial architecture and sophisticated charm will straighten your spine to walk like the royals do. But as regal as Wien looks, you'll find that the locals don linen shirts and breezy trousers during a summer heat wave. Come with an international palate, too, because like New Yorkers, 40% of Viennese report a foreign origin.
May 3, 2020
Sunday Dialogues: There's Light We Cannot See
Vibrant, red lungs expand and contract. There's ease. The soft hum of Spanish verses travel sweetly from my ears to my heart. The voices don't bother me anymore. He's running besides me; I feel it. From the expansive pastures of Bull Run, my feet become acquainted with the gnarled tree trunks snaking across Monkey Run. The branches whisper silently, welcoming me as I search hungrily for the sleek, grey cliffs.
April 17, 2020
Postcards from: Salzburg
An ode of camera and iPhone photos to remember the sunshine city that made us skip and whistle to the Sound of Music.
April 11, 2020
April 5, 2020
Postcards from: Bavaria (Munich, Oberammergau, Regensburg)
There's too many good things to say about Germany. You'll find high-speed, efficient technology everywhere you look, wind turbines that line the autobahns, people who are kind and meticulously organized, and plenty of excuses for kuchen und kaffee. The dark times underlying Germany's history aren't forgotten, either. In fact, reminders are ubiquitous - inscribed on cobblestones, raised in conversations with the gravity of regret and a grassroots determination for change.
Bavaria marked my third time stepping foot on German soil, but this was my first visit to the south. Here, the pace of life felt more relaxed. German pride manifested in bold oompah music, artisan goods at the market, lederhosen, really good ice cream, and bier, of course. Of all the "German things" we previously tried, there was, and still is, more to discover.
March 18, 2020
Faith for the Vision
Of all the memories I've left campus with, many of them include the relentless treks up to class. Can you imagine
February 27, 2020
Postcards from: Prague
It all happened so fast that nothing felt real - for any of us.
It was Wilson's 20th birthday and a flash flood was threatening to delay our flight. With a diploma in one hand and a passport in the other, I scrambled as quickly as I could from the car into JFK, shielding my camera from the pelting rain. Still steeped in disbelief that my campus on a hill officially became a chapter in my past, I found myself, twelve hours later, walking through a city as storybook-like as Tallinn with a grunge-y, rebellious edge.
February 10, 2020
Lauren
In this city, people are judged by the number of letters following their name. But not everyone subscribes to that culture. Some people have a heart shaped like a living room, inviting others to sink into a comfy couch, take their load off, and stay a while. This kind of a heart looks a lot like Lauren's, and Beantown's mighty lucky to have this wonderful human bean around.
December 22, 2019
My Year in Pictures 2019
Executive editor Dean Baquet introduces the photos:
"this collection of images is a testament to a mere fraction of the conflicts and triumphs, catastrophes and achievements and simple but poignant moments of everyday life in the past 365 days."
I was immediately drawn to the concept, the natural end-of-the-year reflection without having to explain too much. The photos say it all. While I don't dare to claim that my life is news-worthy, God brought along particularly formative moments in 2019. It began with continuing to desperately cry out to Him while living in a hurtful environment, and it's now ending in a new city, the fourth I've lived in over the past five years, the first to feel like home within two months. When culling through a year's worth of photos, I kept wondering if I should select "the best few," ones I'd submit to a club competition or ones with a consistent color theme. But that's not what 2019 looked like, and the purpose of this is not to showcase a gallery of my proudest photos.
December 16, 2019
November 2, 2019
With the Locals: The Bostonians
My fourth day here, I set out early to walk the Freedom Trail. Bill Bagley was sitting in Boston Common under a beautiful tree, reading. The first thing that struck me was how kind his voice was. The second thing that struck me was the soft spot we share for refugees and immigrants. ⠀
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Bill is a lawyer in the field of philanthropy; he was preparing to address an organization about funding nonprofit support for programs related to refugee resettlement, migration and development, and humanitarian assistance. "You know, it's just so important to help." ⠀
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I couldn't stop thinking about our life-giving conversation and looked him up when I got home. Turns out he's an adjunct professor at BC, spent time at Yale, and of his many degrees, one is from Harvard. ⠀
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The third thing that struck me was how genuine and personable he was, even taking the time to ask me, "Now if I may, let me ask you one last question - where were you before?... Oh, well it's gorges!" ⠀
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Before we said goodbye, he said, "Well, I hope to see your work in the New York Times one day!"
You and me both, Bill.
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