PROMPT: Most Spontaneous

Daily writing prompt
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?

Clap — awkwardly — at something that no one else clapped at? I don’t know. The “most spontaneous” phrase reads a lot like “most dead,” “most unique,” or even “most perfect” to me.

If the question aims for something at the intersection of major life events and spontaneity, it’s more likely to yield romantic revisionism than truth. Being truly spontaneous at scale is a hard way to live if you’re not a hermit or a crazy sage.

DAILY PHOTO: Monumento Torre del Reloj

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Photograph of the Monumento Torre del Reloj in Cartagena, Colombia.

PROMPT: Self-Care

Daily writing prompt
How do you make time for self-care?

Is “self-care” first-aid done when there’s no one else around? If so, persistent bleeding and fevers above 103 degrees are given privileged positions on my to-do list.

Twins [Haiku]

Photograph of two flowers that look nearly identical. Taken in the Bogota Botanical Gardens.
two flowers
-- side-by-side -- neither
outgrows its neighbor

Lonely Rose [Haiku]

a lonely rose
awaits winter frost:
short, gray day.

DAILY PHOTO: Bogota Street Scene

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Photograph taken in Bogota with skyline and traffic.

PROMPT: Like Home

Daily writing prompt
What’s a place you visited that felt like home?

My bar for a place to feel like home is that I don’t have to think every time about where I will eat or do my laundry. So, I’ve had this a number of times in a number of countries in which I had access to a kitchen(ette) and a washing machine.

DAILY PHOTO: Cazique Zipa

Photograph of the Cazique Zipa, featuring the Monumento Ofrenda del Zipa Tisquesusa in Zipaquira, Colombia.
Photograph of the open space near the train station in Zipaquira, Colombia.
Photograph of a colorful mural painted building next to the Cazique Zipa in Zipaquira, Colombia.

PROMPT: Earlier in Life

Daily writing prompt
What’s one thing you wish you had started doing earlier in life?

Simplifying… and juggling.