Just last year, Oxford was named the greenest city in England. It does not feel hard to believe at all, as I bike through the city’s Zero emissions zone and read about environmental justice plans in the newspapers regularly. I think it is good that the city is recognized for the initiatives that it has […]
Month: October 2024
The geese in the canal
When I went to my sit spot by the canal, I noticed the soft sounds of water moving slowly, the occasional splash of a goose dipping beneath the surface, and faint city noises in the background. The smell was a blend of damp earth, water, and a hint of something green—probably from the plants growing […]
Prompt 1
I completed this before going to the UK for my program. I was sitting in the backyard at home in northern Rwanda an I was intrigued by how the environment interacts with each other. I am an avocado tree , My neighbor is sugarcane Unlike me her leaves are longer and hairly Her stem is […]
Make me sweat, make me WATERRRR
Breathe in with me, take multiple breaths, multiple steps, multiple stops… eventually you’ll get to the lake in the middle of Hyde Park. I actually do not know what it was, I am scared of calling it a dam and being side-eyed. I brought my paint and canvas this time so that I could paint […]
A Reflection on Community
The word community was one of the words in the English language that took me the longest to understand. The way I understood it in my first language had to do with how one might describe one’s relationship to other people or a group of people, but that the concept could be a physical group […]
here, there, everywhere
This semester, the undergraduate program at the Graduate Institute consists of only three students: me and two guys, one from Canada and the other from China. It was a laughable at first, but the small size has become convenient for excursions. We visited Montreux yesterday as our social outing, where we saw Château de Chillon. […]
Moss
In the cemetery, moss peeks through the flagstones under my feet. Instead of being anchored by roots, moss has rhizoids that enable it to attach to soil. When walking through the city center of Copenhagen, you can go blocks without seeing a tree, but there will undoubtedly be a smattering of moss between the cobblestones […]
Princess in Versailles – Visiting Paris
As I sit in the sprawling gardens of Versailles, a light drizzle begins to fall, casting a soft, misty veil over the landscape. I close my eyes and focus on my breath. The air is cool and damp, and the smell of rain-soaked earth rises from the gravel paths and lawns around me. I hear […]
Water and Energy and Artifacts
When I think of what is beneath my feet today, I see things like rock and fossils and creatures that once lived. I see the layers of earth influenced by the two tectonic plates that meet right here in the Beagle Canal. But what is coming to mind most strongly for me are pieces of […]
Bees in the Courtyard
Just outside of my classroom is the courtyard of an old fire station where I take art classes for three hours every Friday. In this courtyard there is a bee sanctuary and just before class I sit here to watch them work. These small beings create worlds in front of me and I find their […]