Joy Cometh in the Morning

weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. -psalm 30:5 I was holding my grandfather’s hand when he died. To this day, I can remember exactly what it felt like. His skin was warm and slick. His pulse had been getting weaker throughout the day, his breathing more shallow, and I […]

And then Continue Onward: Part 1

Terminology in this post: High school=9-10th grades; College=11-12; University=our college 8% of Nepali girls will graduate from 10th grade (which is graduating from high school). Of those, less than 1% will score high enough on the national high school graduation exam to qualify for scholarship for university. In the history of the village where I […]

A story of time

My grandparents, like all old people, owned four hundred and seventy three clocks. There were clocks made of wood, clocks with dainty flowers around the edges, clocks imbedded in plaques, and my personal favorite, a clock of the shiniest gold-plated metal that had two columns that spun. My grandmother always had the TV on to […]

A patch of green grass.

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Part of that was that med school keeps me busy. Part of it was that I couldn’t think of what I could write about that would be anywhere near as interesting as my past. Part of it was that once I stopped, it was hard to start again. […]

An(other) election

On our election day, I wanted to write about my experience witnessing Nepal’s first general/local election after the long civil war. The civil war was in some part a fight to hold local elections for all citizens. In the days leading up the election, various political parties (at the time there were 57!) would go […]

Live from (Syracuse) New York

Check out the photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EkavMyVktWcaN89n9 (I can’t post the photos here because they’re higher resolution than my hosting site allows, and I can’t be bothered to resize all of them.) Notes: I would like to thank the South Side Innovation Center and the residents of Syracuse’s South Side for their hospitality. I obtained consent […]

Three Shadows in Unfamiliar Hills

There is a pressing issue facing Nepali society, but I was never really that interested in it: Over 10% of Nepalis (and over 50% of young men) are currently working abroad. In addition to the “brain drain”, where Nepal’s brightest minds go to live permanently in other countries, many low skilled workers are attracted to […]

Tales from the Front of the Class, Part 3

Four-Year-Olds are (not) so Cute I had secretly always wanted to teach little kids, just a few times, but I didn’t have time to add another class onto my teaching schedule when I lived there. So last week, when a primary-level teacher asked me to fill in for their first grade class of 45 four […]

I’m back.

As I was saying my goodbyes to everyone in Nepal, I was always asked one question, “when are you coming back?” And my answer was always the same: I’ll be back in two or three years. My sister was with me when I was saying goodbye to the village, and as we drove away, she […]

Where to Now?

I majored in employment practices and theories, yet I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I graduated. There were many different ideas and visions for what I could do: teacher, musician, corporate HR, lawyer, diplomat; I heard it all. I studied for the LSAT, GRE, and (a few years […]

Boys’ Club: Part Two

So we left off in Part I with this big breakthrough with my Dalit boys, when I showed them the pictures of my family. My mind was running. I was excited; I was hopeful. But I did nothing. When I play the bass, I know a split second before any listener if there’s going to […]

Boys Club: Part 1

A lot of my posts have been successes that I had, but life rarely, rarely, felt like success. Progress and change occur the same way you climb a mountain: you huff and puff and wonder if you’ve actually moved at all. But once in a long while, there’s a parting in the trees, and you can […]

The Night Sky

I would often go outside after dinner to take pictures of the stars. Since there was no electricity, the bright stars contrasted profound, all-encompassing darkness around me. I loved astrophotography. I would return to my house talking about different constellations and showing my host mom and sister the wonders my camera could capture that our eyes […]

The Red Cloth

When you see this picture, you probably notice the saris. And the height difference. Maybe the poofy hair. What I see first is our hands intertwined. I remember as we took that picture the feeling of my host mom’s hand clutching my arm, and my hand reaching for her, intertwining us as if we could […]

Here’s to Us

A few weeks after I had been notified that I was selected as a Fulbright grantee, my aunt sent me a new article about another Fulbrighter who would be joining me in Nepal. Heart racing, I analyzed that article the way a chess player does before taking a move. The Fulbrighter, J, had an impressive […]