Cal in Color

My diaspora

Cal in Color

A new day begins with a warm, citrus tint cast above the city. I can see it clearly with all its lurid delights. The soo’q (market) is busy with mothers bargaining for lower prices on cabbages and eggplants while children stray further down the marketplace, toward the livestock. They race
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Columns

Writing into a revolution

Off the Beat

I watched my family’s home turn into chaos on a television screen as I sat almost 8,000 miles away in California. Swarms of protesters were marching through the streets of Cairo to demand an end to then-president Hosni Mubarak’s rule. I was shocked and didn’t know what to make of
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Columns

A tale of two Christmases

Off the Beat

I’m dreaming of a (non)white Christmas — two of them, actually. Being Coptic Christian means that my official Christmas falls on Jan. 7. But my family has adopted a tradition of having a small Dec. 25 Christmas, too, a way of making a Western holiday our own. Our wooden dining
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Features

Documenting distance: A profile on student Kiro Khalil

Documenting Distance Part I of II: Brief reflections on finding and maintaining home almost 7,500 miles away   I ask Kiro Khalil what comes to mind when he hears the word “home.” He tells me “Egypt” in an instant — but, after a brief pause, adds an addendum. “I picked
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College Life

Glimpse into the I-House community

We at the Clog had the pleasure of catching a glimpse into the seemingly insular community at the International House. They were having their weekly coffee hour and the featured country was Korea. With K-pop blasting in the background and eager revelers crowding around the calligraphy table, I-House proved anything
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Commentary

The traveler’s paradox: Traveling alone as a woman

There’s an air of romanticism inherent in the act of “adventure.” It’s Odysseus. Jules Verne. Jack Kerouac. Chris McCandless. Generations of men, admired adventure writers, have had us yearning for the open road. Yet there’s a reality of traveling alone as a woman that is often inferred and rarely recorded.
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