2 Weeks Vacation
Strangely, travelling is one of my more relaxing experiences. Not to overlook the strain of the TSA (complicating matters is the fact that I saved space in my suitcase by wearing my bulkiest jacket and high-heeled boots, not exactly easy to take off & put back on in a rush) or even the physical strain of lugging a backpack and suitcase for 12+ hours (ah, carry on). But at least things are simple. I never bother with WiFi while flying, so I am completely unlinked from the Internet for the...
Read MoreI propose Arkenberg’s Law of Blogging
Arkenberg’s Law of Blogging goes thus: The number of blogworthy items occuring in one’s life exists in inverse proportion to the amount of time one has to blog, resulting in less blogging the more there is to blog about. I suppose this could even deserve the name of Arkenberg’s Paradox of Blogging. Unless someone else has observed it first, in which case I am highly embarassed. So, what’s going on in my life that is blogworthy, but I have no time to blog on it? I have...
Read MoreFair Trade Blogger Bragging
As a college sophomore, I first realized I was interested in international advocacy. A great goal but initially hard to accomplish in a small, friendly town smack dab in the middle of the North American continent. Except I was lucky, because I went to school in Waukesha, home of the Plowshare Center–an organization that hosts educational forums on social, economic, and environmental justice issues globally, and also runs Wisconsin’s first Fair Trade store. They welcomed me on...
Read MoreBlogging from the Home Office
It’s very nice to have a room of one’s own, even if that room is really just 185 square feet serving as bedroom, office, and kitchen all at once. I’m not sure how productive I’ve been, but I feel productive because I’m sitting down at the computer at least once an hour to type, revise, or research something. In between I’m reading (but sparingly–I don’t meet the residency requirement for a library card and I don’t have much cash for buying...
Read MoreHome to Wisconsin and Back to DC
I write this from my new laptop, a generous graduation present from my family. Yes, I’ve graduated, and will spen the rest of my life confusing people by telling them I have a (single, not triple) Batchelorate of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Or at least until I get a Master’s. But that’s far off in the future yet. Now begins the job search. I’ll be conducting it in DC, where I’m also working some internships over the summer. I look forward...
Read MoreDancing Memorials
Yesterday my blog post was about getting a dose of perspective. It came before events that offered yet another sort of perspective…and pushed me to work on this post, which has sat in my drafts for over a month now. There’s a story I’m not certain I will ever be able to write. The title is “Dancing Memorials”. For a time I thought of it as science fiction, because everything I write is science fiction or fantasy, but then I stopped thinking of it as a story that...
Read MoreIs Malaria really that bad?
Today I visited Capitol Travel Medicine of Arlington, Virginia to get my immunizations ready for the trip to Ghana. I’m giving the full name because you can consider this post a wholehearted endorsement; they were very pleasant and extremely helpful. Yellow Fever shots aren’t the most painful thing in the world–mine ended with small welt and a lingering medicinal sting, the kind that reassuringly reminds you that you’ve just had a weakened but potentially deadly virus...
Read MoreHello World
This blog happens to be started in the midst of a crisis of identity for me. I’ve just recently graduated college and am finishing one last semester in Washington, D.C. before…what? I’m making the shift from student to young professional. I think that young professional’s career will lie in the nonprofit sector, but anything more specific than that I’m still feeling out. In my time I’ve been a volunteer income tax preparer, a cashier, a library page, a...
Read MoreAbout Therese
Therese Arkenberg's first short story was accepted for publication on January 2, 2008, and her second acceptance came a few hours later. Since then they haven't always been in such a rush, yet her work appears in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and the anthology Sword & Sorceress XXIV. Aqua Vitae, her science fiction novella, was released by WolfSinger Publications in December 2011.
She works as a freelance editor and writer in Wisconsin, where she returned after a brief but unforgettable time in Washington, D.C. When she isn't reading, writing, or editing (it's true!) she serves on the board of the Plowshare Center of Waukesha, which works for social, economic, and environmental justice.