MODERN IFIGENIA

"Why don't you use the photo where I look 45lbs thinner, because I was 45lbs thinner when I took it"

Woman: I am sorry, this just isn't going to work out, thank you for your time though. Man: Well, I am a great catch, no wonder you are single if you are that demanding. Woman: Yes, that is how single-hood works, I stay single until I find somebody that makes me not want to be single anymore, you don't make me want to be not single, capisce ?

Okay, okay, okay-I have a major dilemma and it is only January. By now you have probably heard of the cheap tickets to Iceland offered by WOW -what you probably don't know is that those prices also apply to Copenhagen, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bristol, Frankfurt, Dublin, Dusseldorf and Stockholm-yes, for around $300.00 you can visit any of these destinations from Washington, DC/Baltimore. So here is my problem, if I go to any of these locations I will have to pay for room and board, which is now more affordable because I own an American Express card which is giving me $25.00 per $100.00 I spend on hotels anywhere in the world. Nonetheless, I would still have to pay for hotels if I go to Europe. I could also go to Turkey because the spring typically brings low rate flights (around $450.00) and I can have free room and board from a friend. The problem with Turkey is that I have already been there, though re-visiting it would help me learn my Turkish. For once in my li...

Have you been asked this questions a lot? Well, maybe you haven't been asked the question this way, but I often find men attributing negativity to the women I am most impressed by and deem the most positive. I decided to write about this because the long-established inverse relationship between competence and likeability for women that Sheryl Sandberg has discussed rather frequently, seems to play out in the dating world as well. I am not going to talk too much about my life's accomplishments, but I am in mostly male dominated fields and I am a high performer. When I started dating, I found myself in situations where men would make statements like: "I am so proud of you and of knowing you" or "I can't believe I was lucky to meet someone like you" or "do you know who you are?" These questions would be followed by the explanation as to why we could not continue dating. I chucked it all to chemistry or lack thereof. There wasn't animo...

I am not sure where my friend pulled this line from, but when she said it, I almost broke down into tears. I was sharing with her that I have been feeling jealous of everyone lately. I have never been jealous before so I didn't understand what that was all about. She then explained that jealousy was shame covered in anger; when she articulated it that way, she spoke a truth to me that really hurt, but really healed. Thanks god for wise friends.

Over the weekend I decided I needed a new curtain to separate my living room from my dining room. Instead of buying a curtain, I figured it would be just as easy to sew one. The problem is that I haven't sewn anything in over seven years. For some reason I felt very domestic this particular weekend and with much hesitation, I opened my closet and pulled out an old sewing machine. I sat down, cut the fabric to length, ironed it for the perfect creases and got ready to sew. It turns out the sewing machine did not work and I disassembled it and reassembled it, resulting in my ability to sew and complete the project. These were all such very mundane tasks, but I was surprised at how meditative they were. I was in no rush or urgent need to get them done, so I could take my time and be careful. Ironing re-connected me to my youth where I would iron all of my school uniforms and could remember how happy I used to be to see my classmates when I arrived to school. There is a smell that ...

Sometimes I will chit chat with my friends about what it was like growing up. During our discussions it becomes clear we had very different pasts. They dealt with snow and squirrels and I dealt with a cruel heat and monkeys. They got in trouble over stealing makeup, I got in trouble for stealing mangoes. We would look back sadly on those days, they are now long gone and the world will never be the same. But I noticed that I would always be much sadder about this nostalgia and I never quite understood why. After all, we all travel time and space in the same way, so why would thinking about my past make me so sad. A few days ago I took the liberty to Google earth my old neighborhood, so much had changed. I felt so sad, and that's when I realized why immigrants have a different outlook on their past than do people who were born and raised in the same place. When a native looks at their past, they see a time that no longer is, and when they look at their present, they see one tha...