My mother’s childhood was full of plants made into toys. The last time I was in Moscow—11 years ago now, the memories are growing rusty—she shared them with me, introducing me to the many plants that could become playthings, even in a big city. There were the “touch-me-not” plants, “nedotroga,” ...
Serendipity is not a feeling I’d expect to experience often, but somehow, I do. Songs, words, and people seemingly come into my life right when I need them most.
In one of my earliest memories I’m sitting on the lid of the toilet, wearing pajamas, a trash can between my feet. My mother is holding scissors as if she has just discovered what they are. She is a woman of many talents, but cutting hair is not one of them. Still, I let her try. Over and over, I ...
When it comes to shops around Providence, most of us know about restaurants, cafés, and thrift stores. But how many local bookstores have you been to? (The Brown Bookstore doesn’t count.) Here in PVD, there is an amazing selection of independent bookstores with unique themes and beautiful decor. ...
For anyone with access to the internet, especially any woman-identifying person in her teens, twenties, or thirties, 2023 will go down as an unforgettable amalgamation of transient “girl” TikTok trends: girl dinner, girl's girls, for the girls, the girls who get it, girl math, even Gwen Stefani’s ...
“Abroad planning,” “Barcelona bucket list,” “Travel to book,” “Running to-do list”: the top four lists I see when I open my Notes app, and those are just ones I have pinned. I have 1830 notes (and counting) on my phone. I used to consider this addiction a great accomplishment, but recently ...
If given the chance to reinvent yourself, would you do it? The opportunity for self-reinvention is one of the many perks that come with starting college. What always followed “Why Brown?”, which I was asked numerous times when I committed, was: “You’re sooo lucky. You’re definitely going to ...
In the corner of the patch of land I call home there used to sit a treehouse. The funny thing about this treehouse is that it was never in a tree at all. It was a small wooden shed, perched atop nothing but solid ground.
What does it mean to truly live? Each one of the eight billion lives in this world are distinct, making it hard to consider any experience universal. But I know I can pinpoint moments in my life when I thought “this is why I’m alive.”
Upon returning home from a family reunion trip two summers ago, I was welcomed back by the presence of two very conspicuous solid lines on the white plastic Covid-19 test in my hand. I had not (to my knowledge) had Covid since the pandemic had started. It was bound to happen at some point, I thought ...
Nearly all seventeen species of penguins are intensely colonial, gathering in “great teeming masses” to court one another. To win a female’s affection, males swing their heads side to side or raise their flippers or throw their beaks to the sky to carol their best trills and squawks. Some gentoo ...
Traveling alone is so over-romanticized. Instagram travel bloggers tell stories about the charming men they meet in Italy, the wondrous views from the mountains of Peru, and the endless adventures to be found in the streets of New York—not about the pickpocket in the Milan metro who stole your phone, ...
As we once again approach the great ouroboros of pant width and shoulder padding—the kids are trending wide—I am beginning to notice an aesthetic rumbling up from the edge of retrospective fashion: Everyone is dressing like it's the ’90s. Call it fashion, call it Instagram mood board accounts ...
The trumpeter swan pokes his nose through the water’s surface. Staring back at him, a wavering mirror radiates from his small, pointed beak. As he takes one step in, ripples ricochet from his thin legs to the tip of the shore. He delicately situates himself on top of the surface, admiring the dancing ...
I am single, and I am married. While seemingly paradoxical, both of these things are true. There is no husband, nor a spouse to whom I am married. I alone comprise the happy couple.
Solutions by The State News
