Mark Twain once said, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.” One’s personal knowledge should not be limited to what was taught in the classroom but should include knowledge sought from the world. This expanded education for a person is meant to encompass the strengths, insights, and unique gifts that come through an open mind and experiences...
My journey to Georgetown began in a small country on the coast of the Baltic Sea – Latvia.
To the outside observer, it would seem like another place with a strange name. But to me, the country is my ancestral homeland and the root of my identity. My grandfather –Fricis Butners - endeavored to serve the country when it became an independent state after World War 1...
Beads of sweat trickle down my face and coalesce into an expanding sea on the padded red and blue mat below me.
Observing me from all sides, and residing above a domineering wall-to-wall mirror and rows of faux bamboo, are the masters of
Matsumura Seito, whose presence forms an unbroken group of images that likely trace back the lineage of Okinawan karate to
prehistory...
Jillian, the four-year-old girl I babysit, constantly asks me "Why?" whether it's about the plot of Frozen or why roly-polies curl up in the sunlight. I explain as well as I can but she asks me "Why?" again and again, until we've gone into a 15-minute explanation and I have to say that Ms. Michelle wants to do something else now...
In the hectic bustle of the city, it's difficult to find an oasis. People flock to parks, coffee shops, and libraries to find a small section of the city where they take off their façade and be alone. Columbia exists as a small island on a big one, a little niche enclosed by iron gates where students and visitors alike feel the quiet and silence...
When I was five years old, I almost drowned in a swimming pool. In front of a lifeguard. After rescuing myself by grabbing the foot of someone who was, luckily, sitting by the edge of the pool, I threw a glare at the lifeguard and coughed as dramatically as I could to emphasize my somewhat near death experience...
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