Transition

Linnea Ashley on July 2nd, 2013

these days i am contrary to what i have most often been. so much so that i made up a word for it. unopinionated. ask me what i want to do and i’ll most likely shrug my shoulders. ask me what i want to eat and the most i can generally muster is what i […]

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Linnea Ashley on September 25th, 2012

I never thought i’d end up here. Not after i finally got out. In part it was a constant growing up…my dad’s voice reminding me that graduation was my departure date- more or less (and graduation from college was a must). Not that he and my mother had my bags packed and waiting off stage […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 30th, 2012

i have to find a way out of my current funk. Unemployment is not sexy but people who urge me to “take advantage of the time” are surfing in shark infested water looking decidedly like baby seals. It isn’t because they aren’t right. It is true that i have waaaaayyyy more time than i will […]

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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 August 31st, 2010

Iganga Town, Uganda August 31, 2010 There are some americanism, my inner mzungo so to speak, that I would presume are rigid and inflexible. I’d be wrong but I sometimes argue with myself that it is true. Personal space is one of those things. From my history I know that I can work through the […]

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Linnea Ashley on August 25th, 2010

August 24, 2010 Iganga Town, Uganda If I were to map my town, take stock of people and places…really look and not simply let it pass me as I stroll, it would be full of sounds and color and scents. Even on a two dimensional piece of paper it would spring to life because life […]

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Linnea Ashley on August 21st, 2010

August 21, 2010 Iganga Town, Uganda I haven’t mastered this pseudo post-colonial era in africa. In truth, this is my first true interaction with the way things probably were. I have a high fence with broken bottles glittering in the sunlight to deter unwanted visitors. And if that fence fails I have an armed guard […]

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Linnea Ashley on August 15th, 2010

August 14, 2010 Mabira forest, Uganda The plastic smoldered, drew itself up from clear blue womanly shapes and bright yellow shopping bags to black jewels glistening on ashen logs. The Ugandan interns burned the plastic we’d all collected – the rubbish that has been strewn haphazardly around the party site. We mzungos* intended to throw […]

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Linnea Ashley on August 7th, 2010

The air is thick and chewy like old gum. Trucks belch black smoke and trash burns in invisible fires in the distance. Bodas (motorcycles), immune to laws of traffic and good sense, weave between cars and -when time and lack of space dictates- speed along sidewalks narrowly missing pedestrians. Kampala isn’t quiet. Colorful buildings in […]

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Linnea Ashley on August 1st, 2010

August 1, 2010 Iganga Town, Uganda It could be malaria. It could be an idiosyncratic thyroid. or I might just be cold. The thing is, living in a world of malaria makes every chill or fever infinitely more noticeable – more epic – than it deserves. Just as spotting Neil Patick Harris on the streets […]

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