Days after my 32nd birthday, I sat hunched over my computer typing feverishly into oblivion as the sky darkened outside. It was Memorial Day weekend and instead of being at someone’s barbecue drunkenly two-stepping to Earth, Wind & Fire I was drafting invoices — two invoices — to two men…

There are some novels that stay with you, imparting a lasting message and leaving an intangible impact. Black Sunday, a debut novel from author Tola Rotimi Abraham, is one of them.

In Black Sunday, Tola Rotimi Abraham, an Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate, weaves a profound narrative about a Nigerian family…

As a child growing up in the South, I knew that Sunday was a holy and reverent day set aside from all the rest. Each one began the same: stirring from a deep sleep early in the morning, when the faintest light from sunrise was starting to appear; showering and…

Early last fall, when the leaves began to change colors, I started to feel like I was drifting into the first waves of depression. It was an acute feeling, a knowing, made only worse by sitting still at home every day, pondering my thoughts.

And so I bought a ticket…

My life changed to a hue I’d never seen before or felt on my skin on August 30, 2017. Only, I was oblivious to how it was set to change thousands of miles away in Bogota, Colombia. …

A decade ago, I had a clear idea of how my life would be now in my 30s. It was something like this: married with a loving husband and a few kids, a beautiful house from which I entertained family and friends at dinner parties, a fulfilling career that satisfied…

When I hear most people talk about their first solo travel experiences, there’s a twinkle in their eyes. Their voices take on a sing-song melody and mimic audible poetry. They share about how they felt pulled to explore the world all on their own, how they booked that trip despite…