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Linnea Ashley on January 25th, 2012

For more than a year the state of Louisiana has been trying to tell me i owe and undisclosed amount of back tax money to them for a year i never lived in Louisiana. I’ve been out of the country for most of it but intermittently try to provide them with proof of the negative. […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 15th, 2011

Growing up I never understood the story of the prodigal son. I mean, I knew the story, but I always identified more with the son who never strayed. Far from the perfect child, i was – however – the contrast to my sister. She was the popular cheerleader full of potential who was content (at […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 23rd, 2011

Some people, more than place, are home. The smell of them. The slight laugh, a truncated chuckle with some irony thrown in. the feel and look of them – even though time adds pounds and grays hair. The voice reverberating deep in a chest. The smile not telling everything. He was there when I was […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 15th, 2011

It wasn’t a happy conversation. My family gathered in the kitchen – a rare occurrence now that my sister and I are grown and gone from the house, her married with a family of her own. But there we were, my parents and sister seated casually around the glass dining table cluttered with the day’s […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 12th, 2011

Reconciling my own feelings about working overseas in development is difficult enough. Is there harm done? To what extent? Is there good? Does it make up for the bad? I don’t believe good intentions are enough, that something is always better than nothing. Sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease. But how do […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 10th, 2011

I wrote this back in 2003 and it still feels true to me now. The Black Experience. It sounds like a thrill ride at an amusement park. Strap yourself in and prepare to be amazed or dismayed, amused or abused. Strap yourself in and discover what life is like when your skin is browner than […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 8th, 2011

The back cab of an 18-wheeler was not the transportation I’d imagined for the evening; but i hadn’t foreseen an armed driver chasing me down the street either. Shannon and I were supposed to be heading to a gathering of friends in…wow…I don’t even remember where, South Africa. Contrary to our actual knowledge of maneuvering […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 6th, 2011

At the time I didn’t realize it was a race. In my mind the canoe was simply a lazy way to enjoy the beaming sun as we waited for the border between South Africa and Botswana to open. And so the Orange river was my personal chauffer. I flung one long brown leg over the […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 6th, 2011

I’m not a texist. Honestly, some of my best friends –hell, family – are Texans. Some would classify me as Texan given my middle and high school residencies, but that leaves room for debate. Besides, being a Texan doesn’t preclude anyone from being a texist. People have hated what they are for centuries, be it […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 26th, 2010

I felt the bump. Once. Twice. Maybe three times. I even looked around, irritated and my mind vaguely thinking about someone trying to pick my pocket. But downtown Kampala at dusk, sticking close to my BLB (big little brother) and I didn’t feel unsafe. Even so, something made me feel my bag, run my fingers […]

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