life, travel, stories – Join the journey, Love Raven
Dear Reader, I am convinced that Americans (and more specifically Hollywood) invented the concept of a happy ending. I have studied both Russian and German and each language uses the English phrase “happy end” to describe a story or a movie that ends happily – as if ending well is a foreign concept. I recently... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, It is deeply unsettling to learn that the person that you have come to know and call a friend is nothing more than an illusion. When Rachel DeLoache Williams went on what she thought was an all-expenses-paid vacation with her friends, Anna, Casey, and Jesse, to Morocco, she did not expect that this... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, How bad is this coronavirus pandemic? Well, it depends on who you are asking. Through news stories and acquaintances, it has become clear to me that the pandemic is not an all-consuming issue in all parts. Where I am stationed in Massachusetts, we are still under a stay-at-home advisory and are feeling isolated... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, In stark contrast to the last book that I read Maid (review here), I recently finished Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir by Wednesday Martin, which exposes the “mommy culture” of the wealthy residents of the Upper East Side in Manhattan. The title is in reference to the author’s background in anthropology and... Continue Reading →
Dear, Reader It is often the case that after death the deceased is held in higher regard than he was while living. Yet rarely is anyone upraised to the status of legend. This, however, is how many view the wise-beyond-his-years and gone-before-his-time Chris McCandless. Maybe we are captivated by him for his unshakable resolve, propensity... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, I have come to the point in this pandemic when I seem to be baking for the sake of baking rather than baking because I actually want to bake or am craving something sweet. For example, this past week, I made two types of pumpkin bread and have barely eaten either. The first... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, We meet Stephanie Land in a homeless shelter as her daughter learns to walk. She only has $10 in her bank account and is soon moving into transitional emergency housing. In the 2019 best-selling book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, we see Land's struggle to provide a... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, The Governor of Massachusetts recently unveiled the state’s plan to gradually re-open in accordance with health and safety guidelines. The plan includes four phases with Phase 1 already in progress (for select business). The goal is to lift restrictions on society and reach a ‘new normal’ in a way that does not negatively... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, When you account for all of the physical and chemical reactions, baking really is a messy sort of science. For example, when you make a cake you must mix and combine the ingredients (a physical reaction, i.e. when molecules are rearranged) and then bake everything in the oven (a chemical reaction, i.e. the... Continue Reading →
