Adriana M

Joined January 2021

67 stories

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Neuroscientist, writer, renaissance woman .

instagram: @kindmindedadri

Stories (67)

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Guatavita, Colombia: The Real El Dorado
In the upper mountains of Cundinamarca, just an hour's drive from Bogotá, there's a place of myth and ancient tales. You have heard about it, that is for sure: the legend of El Dorado. A lake littered with gold and precious stones. Could it be true? Shouldn't such a place be looted by now? How would that even be possible? The answers are yes, sort of, and...let me tell you the story.
By Adriana M5 years ago in Wander
The Dignity of the Office is Ruined.
Dear Donald: The dignity of the Oval Office is lost, and I'm not so sure it will recover. You have shattered an image that took 240 years to build. I would ask if you have given any thought to how things will look now that being a dignified person is no longer a requirement to be president of this great nation, but I'm sure you hadn't. You seem not to have much in the way of thought.
By Adriana M5 years ago in The Swamp
Kind Words For Kind Deeds.
Last year my elderly father suffered a devastating health crisis that rendered him unable to care for himself. He can walk a little around the house, use the toilet, bathe himself with some help, and eat independently, but beyond that, he cannot provide his own sustenance. I traveled there to help as much as I could, a story that I already told in my piece Happiness Is My New Year’s Resolution. I spent months there, helping as much as possible so my mother could leave the house and wouldn’t lose her job. But a thought hunted me relentlessly: what will happen to my mother once I have to go back to work and my own life? How will she handle this hardship on her own? She didfn’t have the resources nay the intention to put my father in a nursing home. How, then, would she manage?
By Adriana M5 years ago in Families
Dear Donald: You Run Me Out of Town.
Dear Donald: In 2015 I found the perfect house. It was a small cottage on the outskirts of a peaceful Michigan village. I loved it there. I worked in the city all day, then drove 30 minutes to my cute little home in the countryside. It had an acre of land around, which only needed to be mowed every two weeks in spring and every month in the summer. It had perfect, beautiful bushes of wildflowers that took care of themselves. It was quiet and peaceful, and I had dreamed of someday turn it into a place to host retreats. I would invest some money in it, finish the basement to add a couple more rooms, and it would be perfect. A place of peace and tranquility, a refuge for the souls of those tired from the hassle of the big city and their own minds.
By Adriana M5 years ago in The Swamp
Happiness Is My New Year's Resolution
We all hear about them; we all do them: New Year's resolutions. Lose twenty pounds, join a gym, start that new business, finish what I started. And yet, so often, they become empty words thrown into the void, words that we said because we had to. What are New Year's resolutions anyway? Why do we make them? What's the point?
By Adriana M5 years ago in Motivation
The Screech
The screech. The unbearable screech. The unmistakable yet insufferable sound from a barn owl. Fuck you, owl, can you just let me die in peace? Fuck you, owl. Aren’t you supposed to say something nice, like hoot-hoot? Why do you have to perch your stupid feathery body right on the branch atop me? Can’t you see how broken I am? Can’t you see the blood pouring off my veins? Can’t you hear the gurgling sounds coming from my throat as it fills with blood? Can’t you feel the pain, the unimaginable pain as my body lies here, torn apart by the claws of the bear?
By Adriana M5 years ago in Horror
Cali, Colombia: the place that is not Hell.
Many of you have heard of my hometown: Cali, Colombia. You have heard of it because of successful tv shows like Narcos or pretty much any other movie that involves drug trafficking. What you may not know is that my hometown is a place full of beauty and wonderful people. While it is true that violence and crime are a part of the daily life of the city, especially of its most impoverished areas, it is also a place of art, culture, and intellectual pursuits.
By Adriana M5 years ago in Wander