"Adventure: the pursuit of life." - Daniel Roy Wiarda

"Adventure: the pursuit of life."

-Daniel Roy Wiarda

Friday, October 26, 2012

The Coolest Woman You've Never Heard Of


I realize that this blog has been rather silent of late, but I hope that you'll forgive me as I've been trying to keep my head above water in a sea of job applications. That is a journey of a different sort than the ones that I usually write about, and could certainly be a blog on its own. And maybe it will be, who knows? But for now, I'd like to talk about one travel-related topic that is very near and dear to my heart and that I find incredibly inspiring.

It seems that this country has just woken up to the fact that half of its population is comprised of women, women with perspectives and opinions. You would almost think it was a novel concept. But women have been trying to establish a voice for themselves for centuries – the fight to be heard is not novel at all, and progress should not be confined to an election year. In light of the new focus on “women’s issues” recently, I want to share the story of one woman who dug her heels in and demanded to be heard in a time of intense and dominating masculinity.

Cecil Dorrian was born in New York City in 1882. A tomboy in a society still draped in the trappings of Victorianism, she became a star athlete at the all-women’s Barnard College. Perhaps utilizing the opportunity granted by her androgynous name, Dorrian went to work writing for magazines following her graduation from Barnard. First up was an auto magazine, a portent of the thrill that she felt in mobility. Then came travel. From then on Dorrian was hardly in the United States, and the articles that she writes from Italy are infused with her abiding love for getting to know a place and seeing what others do not.

In 1914 Dorrian was working as a theatre agent in London when she started sending descriptions of wartime London to the editors at The Newark Evening News, then the biggest newspaper in New Jersey. Here was something that the News did not have – a firsthand account of the Great War. True, they came from a woman, but the editors were willing to offer Dorrian a foothold as a correspondent. Her intrepid reporting gave her audience an all-access pass to Western Europe in wartime – she traveled to England and Belgium, spent time at the Italian front, and finally landed in France, where she met the tide of American reporters coming over to cover America’s 1917 entrance into the fighting.

Not willing to be swept aside by the influx of male reporters working for the War Office, Dorrian continued to seek out the places no one else was going – the overlooked Belgian front. A government munitions factory where the public was not allowed. Colonial training grounds near Marseilles. The American lines, where she was the first accredited woman reporter. By this time she was the European Correspondent for the News and its only writer to receive a by-line.

In a time before television and web coverage, readers in the United States hung on Dorrian’s every word to learn about the war – she was their eyes and ears. In her article detailing her visit to the ruined fortress of Verdun she implores readers to come with her so that they can see the shattered remains of Verdun and understand what the war means. Readers followed this woman into the war – she was their guide, their voice of authority. Dorrian stepped confidently into a man’s profession and demanded to be heard.

Dorrian continued to report from Europe after the war, but in 1926 she passed away from pneumonia, cutting her career short. Her legacy was cut short, too – she does not appear in any history books and today she is only remembered on dusty reels of microfilm.

But her story deserves to be told, and the incredible work that she did deserves to be recognized. So here’s to Dorrian, and to women like her – those who have been lost to history and those who fight to establish a voice for themselves.

Originally published on Spike the Watercooler.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Falling in Love Again


I have never tried to hide the fact that I fell head over heels in love with England while I studied there for a year. I went in with every expectation of geographical romance and was not disappointed. Sure, we had disagreements over such small matters as the postal system, the practicality of grounding every flight in the country for less than three inches of snow, and the lack of Ranch dressing. No relationship is perfect, after all. 

But for all that, I never wanted to be anywhere else. When I think back to that wistful first love mentioned in this post from Atoms of Thought, my thoughts drift toward England. When I close my eyes I can still picture the streets in Bloomsbury, and remember how cold the water in the River Wye was that May evening that I kicked off my shoes and waded in. I can smell the pub where I was introduced to the Eurovision Song Contest, and hear the tired voice over the intercom in the Tube reminding us to "mind the gap." All of the soft greens and yellows of countless sunsets in Earlham Park blend together and I miss it so much. England will always be the place where I learned what it meant to fall in love, in more ways than one.

When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area earlier this summer it was with the gnawing feeling that I was settling for a place – not settling in but settling for. I could be here, I could play tourist for a while, but I always wished in the back of my mind that I was somewhere else, somewhere across the Atlantic where I had left a very big part of myself. If England was the place where I came into my own, where I was happiest, Alexandria was the site of all my struggles to adjust to life post-college. In a lot of ways, I think that I was resistant to liking Alexandria – it was always supposed to be a temporary stop, a place where I could intern for a few months, figure some things out, and then pack my bags and head somewhere else where I could really settle down. Somewhere like London (because it always works out that easily, right?).

Plus, life in Alexandria was hard – I was broke, lonely, and miserable. What you might call a character-building experience. Why would I like a place that I associated with so much unhappiness? I tried to enjoy it, but after the Friday night I fled home to bury myself in a book because I couldn’t muster the courage to go into a bar by myself for a concert, it just seemed destined for failure.

Alexandria wasn’t going to be brushed off so quickly, however. It happened slowly, imperceptibly, but I began to learn my way around the city so that I didn’t need to rely on the annoyingly clipped voice of my GPS or stand on the street corner in D.C. wielding a map in front of my face. I found the Saturday morning farmers market at the Market Square. I found a favourite (haven’t kicked the British spelling) restaurant, a favourite coffee shop, and a favourite ice cream shop (possibly the most important of the three). When friends came to visit I realized that I knew a lot more than I thought I did, and I saw the city through their eyes – a place chock full of history  and sights to see, a place people come from all over the world to visit. And I live here. But to me it had become rent that needed to be paid and groceries that needed to be purchased.

When my internship ended and I started a new job, I told myself that it was a second start for life here, too. I declared one week my Try New Things Week and challenged myself to explore and take as many opportunities as possible – an outdoor Pilates class in D.C., volunteering at a playground build in Alexandria, having friends over to try new recipes, exploring a new bookstore next to a new ice cream shop (divided loyalties now), discovering Winesday at Whole Foods (best invention ever) – and it was wonderful. Then the real test came. Friday night again, debating with myself whether to stay in with my book or go to a poetry slam in Alexandria, on my own.

I went, and I have never been happier that I didn’t let myself take the easy route. The raw emotion and energy that came from the poets was incredible, like every word hung in the spotlight for a moment and demanded that I listen. I left with a new sense of energy and optimism, like part of myself that had been taking a nap all summer had finally woken up and decided to be present. As I left the poetry slam I was admiring the lovely historic buildings around me, lost in thoughts of how awesome the performances I had just witnessed were. As I made my way towards the lights and sounds on King Street, I realized that the last time I felt this good, this unbendingly positive, was in England. It was like the words were the pieces of my life that had been assembling for weeks, and hearing the poems was hearing the sound of all of those pieces clicking into place. And it hit me that I actually really love it here.

Maybe it’s the real gas lamps outside the row houses in Old Town, or the fact that I hear so many languages while I’m walking down King Street that I’m surprised when I hear an American accent. Maybe it’s the view of the National Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at night. Perhaps it’s the free Pilates classes, concerts, and art exhibitions that I’ve been able to enjoy. Maybe it’s that my favourite Irish pub (because I have one of those, too) is actually owned by an Irishman. It could be the vitality of living in a city teeming with excited visitors and young people who flock to the area to begin their professional careers. Or all of the above. Whatever the reasons, I have fallen in love with Alexandria. Not that I’ll ever stop loving England, but I’ve realized how important it is to love your present, and not to take it for granted.

Author's note: The rough draft of this post was the product of both worlds. I scribbled it in the late afternoon sunshine in a park in Alexandria, reveling in a cup of tea and a scone while I waited to catch the metro into D.C. for the evening. Bliss? I think so.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

My D.C. Top Ten

Recently the awesome website GotSaga Travel invited me to write a guest post about ten cool things in my city. I thought that it was an awesome opportunity to reflect on what I've done and discovered during my time in D.C. so far. I can't believe that it's been almost three months! Check out my DC round-up here and let me know what you think!

I should add a newly discovered must-do to the list - the Lincoln Memorial at night is incredible no matter if you're looking at Mr. Lincoln himself or across the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building beyond. Wow.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Weekly Wander

I realize that I haven't actually written anything in a while, but I'm working on it! I've been doing a lot of running around and searching for jobs (yay!) lately, but I'm still here and still having adventures. For now, here's my weekly photograph - a taste of what I've been doing!

A window onto the colourful world of Eastern Market on a Sunday morning.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Weekly Wander

Highlighting one photograph a week from my travels past and present. Enjoy!

In keeping with my London theme, seeing as you can't turn on the television these days without seeing an aerial view of Parliament, this was the view from my hotel window on Brick Lane in London's East End. It made me smile, probably too much. It's definitely an area worth exploring - the business district is encroaching quickly, but Brick Lane is abuzz with conversations in different languages and tantalizingly good smells from markets and restaurants.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Weekly Wander

Highlighting one photograph a week from my travels past and present. Enjoy!

Even the laundry looks like a postcard in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

My London: A Photo Essay

Exactly 23 months ago, to the day, I got on a red-eye flight to London. It was my first time in the city after years of wanting to go, and I fully expected to love it. I did love it, but I also hated it sometimes. London is a study in contradictions - English, but completely un-English; grey and rainy except when it's beautiful; alienating and unfriendly but with some of the loveliest people I've ever met; edgy but traditional; proud but sometimes ridiculous, and generally completely incomprehensible but wonderful.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss it.

In honour of the Olympics beginning on Friday and all of the coverage that London will be receiving, I've put together a photo essay of the city as I experienced it.

Historic
Of course this has to make it into my experience of London - the interior of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the South Bank. 
Nostalgic
Echoes of Britain's imperial past abound in this statue at the Prince Albert Memorial in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
Blended
London Stone in the City, the point from which all distances were measured in Roman Londoninium. Now it's located in the base of a building in the financial district, a small reminder of the layers of history that lie underneath London, as well as Britain's multicultural past. After the Romans arrived in 43 A.D., England was invaded by Angles, Saxons, Danes, and Normans.Immigrants have always been a part of the fabric of Great Britain, and nowhere is that more apparent than in London.
Glitzy
Victoria Palace Theatre in Victoria, part of London's famous West End.
Grim
A plague graveyard in the City commemorates the decimation of the London's population. 
Full of tourists (myself included)...

But in a literary kind of way...
...And other residents
Pigeons, perhaps London's most populous group, make themselves at home in St. James Park.
Traditional

Looking through the gates of Kensington Palace.
Whimsical
Yes, that shed is flying the Jolly Roger.
Grey
The view from St. Paul's Cathedral.
Colourful
The complete sensory experience at Borough Market, under London Bridge.
Human

Memorial to Princess Diana on the gates outside of Kensington Palace
Puzzling
Because 'cross-walk' is too dull.
 Serious
The clocktower at Parliament in Westminster. The name 'Big Ben' actually refers to the bell inside of the tower, not the clock.
 Sometimes too serious
Ah, the Changing of the Guards. Blocking traffic every morning since Victorian times...
But still able to have fun
This doesn't even really need a caption, does it?
Literary
J. M. Barrie's much-beloved Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
 Or not...
Stopping to smell the roses in Queen Mary's Garden in Regent's Park led to a mid-afternoon nap in the sunshine for this Londoner.
Brilliant
Parliament from the London Eye.

 Best of luck with the Olympics, London. I can't wait to see what you've got for the world.