created & maintained by Chris Biles
“In literature and in life we ultimately pursue, not conclusions, but beginnings.” ― Sam Tanenhaus, Literature Unbound Some people are only good at beginnings, others endings, but most are only good at the balance that comes between the two once they find it. Those people live their lives with only a few beginnings, and therefore …
“The end of a melody is not its goal: but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable.” –Friedrich Nietzsche I leave my village in less than two weeks, two weeks that will absolutely fly by. I think the fact is starting to sink in, …
With only about three weeks left in my village, my time here is certainly nearing its end. When every day seems like a week, but every week seems like a day, time moves on in an endlessly confusing way... And now it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that it’s time to say …
Continue reading "Seems like just yesterday: Memories here at the end"
This is a new poem to express the pull and push felt for my two very different homes – my two worlds. It expresses how and why we go on in spite of exhaustion, shock, or injustice. When you come to love a place and a people, you also see the dark sides that inevitably …
Continue reading "Two Worlds: Discovery, Confusion, Recovery"
“Differences simply act as a yarn of curiosity unraveling until we get to the other side.” - Ciore Taylor Peace Corps Volunteers have the unique opportunity and ability to learn the humility and compassion that is required for intercultural communication. At the core of all cultures are varying power structures, different ways of communicating, contrasting …
Continue reading "Understanding: To bridge between great difference"
“… that is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED Talk, Oct 2009, The danger of a single story One thing that always blew my mind when talking with friends or fellow …
The importance of global awareness: Where will our ripples reach? Global Citizenship: "a way of living that recognizes our world is an increasingly complex web of connections and interdependencies. One in which our choices and actions may have repercussions for people and communities locally, nationally or internationally." I recently traveled to Zanzibar for some holiday …
Continue reading "The importance of global awareness: Where will our ripples reach?"
I am at long last on vacation. These past few months have been consumed by a lot of treadmill running, and I am happy to take a break from it. I suppose I haven’t just been on a treadmill, since we’ve admittedly gotten somewhere. We have completed about half of the big garden and water …
The sun will rise tomorrow, and it is always rising on some horizon. I stood in my courtyard last night, the moon had yet to arrive and it was the darkest of dark. The stars absolutely blew my mind. I’m not sure how many times I turned a stationary circle, enjoying the way the specks …
I have been rather numb since Election Day. I went to town to meet up with other volunteers and watch the election live, streamed from our computers. We had a little party, made a map to color in as the votes were counted throughout the early AM (for us here in TZ), wrote on slips …
marks in the sand 