Forget the Restaurant

By: Gabriela Yareliz People say that if you want a read on someone’s character (to date or work with, for example), go to a restaurant with them. See how they treat the waiter, they say. Please— anyone can pretend through a meal. I have seen enough fake people to last me a lifetime, especially inContinue reading “Forget the Restaurant”

The Real Real

By: Gabriela Yareliz I love to try things. I am a curious raccoon, if you will. There are types of supplements where I have tried them all. The language learning platforms— I have basically tried them all. Something else I have tried a bunch of are fitness platforms. I have talked about this in theContinue reading “The Real Real”

Dreamer DNA

“Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss.” Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem By: Gabriela Yareliz I saw this Didion quote, and I know there is truth to it. As a kid, I would write 15Continue reading “Dreamer DNA”

Words for the Silence

By: Gabriela Yareliz Two out of my three trains are on time. I am overcoming my shock. As I do that, I continue to reflect on a passage in scripture that deeply moved me this week. You know, sometimes, you are in a weird season. You feel surrounded by an environment you could do without.Continue reading “Words for the Silence”

The Hard Way

By: Gabriela Yareliz Some people look down on the ones who take the hard road. We live in a time where you can find easy if you want it. These days, things are so convenient that we as a human race lack intimacy with each other (even in the nonsexual sense) because “real intimacy requiresContinue reading “The Hard Way”

Ricky

By: Gabriela Yareliz I typically avoid tourists. Most New Yorkers do. We don’t have time for slow walkers or people who take up the entire walkway with their tour group. Today, I was walking through an area that attracts a high volume of tourists. Central Park. As I was walking, some food cart was blastingContinue reading “Ricky”

Different

“If you want something different, you are going to have to do something different.”Jack Canfield By: Gabriela Yareliz This may be one of the hardest lessons life offers us. Hard because ‘different’ requires courage. It requires risk. It often requires uncertainty and the unknown. It requires sitting down and doing the hard work of tryingContinue reading “Different”

In the Dark

“Ironically, though light can be scarce at night, the darkness can often bring clarity.” Richard Christensen By: Gabriela Yareliz We often talk about the clarity light brings us. We rarely talk about the clarity found in darkness. The truth is, some of the darkest moments in life clarify things for us. We see things notContinue reading “In the Dark”

Ideas for NYC: Open Letter #2

By: Gabriela Yareliz Dear Eric Adams (Mayor): Public things require courteous and considerate users. Absent that, they are destroyed. Public libraries (which we should talk about because funding is being cut, and they barely function pre-cut), public pools, public parks— but let’s talk about public transport. Public transport is the pool everyone is peeing in.Continue reading “Ideas for NYC: Open Letter #2”

None of the Magazines I Loved Still Exist

By: Gabriela Yareliz Us 90s girls— we all wanted to be a rom-com journalist when we were kids. I would be lying if I said otherwise. We lived in the golden era of magazines. Magazines shaped me deeply. I spent hours, HOURS, cutting collages and making wall posters and binder covers. I just thought weContinue reading “None of the Magazines I Loved Still Exist”