Berlin gentrifies faster than any other place I've been. Since Berlin in the center of much Internet Freedom activity, I come through there about twice a year. The first time I went, Prenzlaurberg was the hip place to be and Potsdammer Platz was the world's largest construction site (soon to be overtaken by...well...everything in China)--which made ( Read more... )

you broke the ocean in
half to be here.
only to meet nothing that wants you.

by Nayyirah Waheed

Rio is a party town. It's beaches and tourists and don't-look-at-the-favelas. Rio is not a place where anyone works, presumably because all of the work in Brazil is done in the considerably less picturesque city of Sao Paolo. There are 18 million people in Sao Paolo, living in a sort of endless maze of high-rise buildings--downtown without end. Sao ( Read more... )

Vintage clothing does not travel well, which is why my wardrobe has slowly morphed into an easily-squishable pile of stretch cotton jersey dresses and 20-hole boots that can survive the treacherous cobblestones of Europe. When I am in ess eff, I take out my much-loved early sixties cotton shirtwaists and t-strap heels and wear the ones that don't ( Read more... )

Being Carmen San Diego is complicated. It means that I can and I cannot talk about my job. Sometimes it means that I have to be so vague it's not worth talking about at all--I don't think that I ended up writing much about Moscow, for example. There's just this big blank space in my calendar and a lot of worrying about my opsec. I didn't travel ( Read more... )

Terry Pratchett is dead. This doesn't come as a surprise, since he's been very public about his declining health, but I feel it is worth noting. I am a Serious Person who reads Serious Literature and does Serious Things. I am a brain in a jar. But if you look at my (fancy Restoration Hardware) bookshelf, you will see a great big row of Terry ( Read more... )

I hardly ever post poetry anymore, but here it is. Train your heart like a dog, people ( Read more... )

In other news, Hawaii is an unbelievably beautiful place. All the cliches have become cliches because they're true. If anyone gives you the opportunity to take an hour-long helicopter tour of Oahu (especially in a helicopter with no doors) put on a warm jacket and say yes ( Read more... )

Let me begin by taking all of the blame. A few months ago, I misplaced my combination lock and I did not bother to replace it. So when I went to the gym, I simply put all of my things inside a locker and hoped for the best. This is usually not a problem. I go to nice gyms. Most people are not interested in stealing my work clothes, not even my ( Read more... )

Oh 2014, I am ambivalent about you ( Read more... )