I’m awaiting my flight home in the Nairobi airport, nursing a cup of coffee and a familiar melancholic cocktail. Not quite sadness, not quite satisfaction, not quite contentment. I’ve been reacquainted yet again with much loved and missed places and people and parts of myself. Everything is a patchwork of constant and change, progress andContinue reading “Goodbye Again”
Author Archives: Holly F
Vicky, the Bald-Bottomed Yorkie
As previously mentioned, one type of event my mother attended in search of equestrian Attire so we could take riding lessons was dog shows. Dogs are a massive deal for white Kenyans. But like the purebred dog-owning community in Kenya at the time, the purebred dog community was rather small, insulated, and, I hate to say it,Continue reading “Vicky, the Bald-Bottomed Yorkie”
A Whole Herd of Stripe-Less Zebras
As you may have noticed, I’m rather fond of a lovely little corner of the political media called The Bulwark. To the point where I am now doing parodies of one of their podcasts (simulcast on YouTube). And just to preview/warn you, this post is gonna be a journey. The lengths I will go to demonstrate that I am not just reallyContinue reading “A Whole Herd of Stripe-Less Zebras”
You Must Have Proper Attire
No, I didn’t wake up at 5 am to watch the coronation, but I am otherwise an Anglophile through and through. It’s literally in my blood. If my ancestor had been born first instead of like fifth back in the 14th century, this might be my castle: I love scones, fish, chips, gin and tonics,Continue reading “You Must Have Proper Attire”
If you can race a chameleon, anything is possible
Limuru, Kenya in 1983 was not exactly an all-you-can-eat buffet of entertainment options. There were no amusement parks, roller rinks, mini-golf courses, movie theaters, or playgrounds. There wasn’t even a single television in anyone’s house. If there had been one, the only thing to watch was the evening news, during which an announcer of dubiousContinue reading “If you can race a chameleon, anything is possible”
Why do we do this to ourselves
March was a hard month. After a bit of a stretch of feeling like I had life under control, I was hitting some strides, finding an unusual amount of joy, March showed up with a bucket of Nickelodeon green slime and dumped it on my head. In addition to some fairly mundane frustrations, self-inflicted dust-ups,Continue reading “Why do we do this to ourselves”
Taking Candy From A Dictator
I almost started a political riot by doing the bunny ears. For those under 40, the bunny ears were an ancient ancestor of the photo bomb, and you’ll still see old and/or really socially awkward people doing it on occasion. You make a “V” with your index and middle finger, then surreptitiously put yourContinue reading “Taking Candy From A Dictator”
All is not lost
The CDC report on the mental health crisis among teen girls is just the latest in a series of headlines that seem to indicate America is deeply, horribly troubled. Racial animosity, police violence, loneliness and anomie magnified by the pandemic, lost learning, angry young men, abuse in the church, depression, anxiety, death by suicide. TheContinue reading “All is not lost”
Love is Love
I went to my first same sex wedding this month. With my kids and everything. This is not something I would have ever done 20 years ago. Maybe not even 10 years ago. Certainly I wouldn’t have brought my children 10 years ago, for fear they would be corrupted or confused in some way. IContinue reading “Love is Love”
Cultural Appropriation
I have inexplicably become a late-in-life artist (well, a person who makes what I call art). It started during COVID with a lot of free time and accumulated stacks of African fabric. I remembered the beautiful collage paintings I had seen on a recent trip to Tanzania and arrogantly thought, I’m gonna try that. InContinue reading “Cultural Appropriation”
A Zebra Without Stripes 