here be?

[is everything peaceful?]

After an exploit of public transit from Providence to Boston to New York to the JFK Airport, I'm waiting in terminal one feeling excited, anxious, and somewhat bemused. I am of course excited for the adventure I know is to come- last summer in Bamako truly changed my life and my perspective on the world and its people and I cannot wait for the creative process that awaits. I am anxious to land in the…charming Bamako airport in twenty-six hours and see my friends- toubabous and farafeets alike- but also to return to the U.S. for the more lackluster/hopefully invigorating processes of graduate school applications, thesis writing, money-making, and my work with Breakthrough. I am feeling bemused because as is true for many of my peers, graduation is only eight months away and the fraught mental flow-chart of directions my life could take right now remains in the back of my mind from the time I wake up every morning until I fall asleep (and sometimes even after that). I'm hoping my separation from American culture and stress will be therapeutic and reconcile my stresses and perspective so that I have the clarity to move forward with my creative, academic, and personal journey into the real world.

K'an ben kofe! See you in Mali!