From the category archives:

Chambana

On Friendship

March 29, 2008

As a teenager and a young woman, I longed for the kind of friendships I had before our move overseas broke most of my relationships irrevocably.
My new school overwhelmed me, and I cultivated the aura of a cynical outsider in what I suspect was a very poor attempt to mask my throbbing, hurt feelings. College [...]

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Too Close For Comfort

February 15, 2008

I planned to publish an essay today about things I don’t hate about living in Chambana, based on a question from Midwest Neurotica.
Instead, I am too busy thinking about what could have happened yesterday when Mr. Chicken was at school.
You see, the man who walked into a classroom at Northern Illinois University yesterday afternoon and [...]

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Chambana: Home Of The Crappy Haircut

February 7, 2008

I’m running out of options, friends.
At this point, I’ve visited three salons here, been to four stylists and still, STILL I cannot get a decent haircut. This is partially my own fault, since I strayed from the acceptable suburban uniform of the chin-length bob over the summer. Y’all remember this:

The Great Bang Experiment of [...]

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How Did THAT Happen?

December 13, 2007

Stuffing Christmas cards into envelopes last night, I came across a name I didn’t recognize.
“Who’s that?” I asked my husband, pointing.
“Oh, that’s so-and-so,” he replied.
Oh, I said, and nodded, continuing to stuff and peel, stuff and peel.
“It’s weird, we’ve haven’t been gone that long … ” Mr. C began.
“But it seems like we’ve been here [...]

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American Pie

October 27, 2007

In the days and weeks just after my father died, every time I got in the car I heard “American Pie” by Don McLean. My husband, mother and sister had the same experience.
******
I drove to our local apple orchard Wednesday morning to gather some Halloween decorations.
As I headed westbound, toward home, I decided to take [...]

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Think Globally, Act Locally: Everybody Eats

October 17, 2007

Do you ever think about how much food you waste?
I do.
And when I hear facts like these about the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, I feel even worse:

While the Foodbank distributed 5 million pounds of food to agencies and programs in its 14-county service area in 2006, the actual need is closer to 20 million pounds.

There [...]

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