I read this book for my daughter on the life of Amelia Earhart, the pioneer aviator who chose to defy conventions (women can't fly airplanes!) to pursue her dream, doubters be damned. Amelia liked to say, "Never interrupt anyone doing what you said couldn't be done." My daughter, who is 6, became very interested in these words – "What does Amelia mean, Mommy?" I told her that Amelia had a dream, believed in her dream, and worked very hard to bust out of her box and make her dream reality.
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What have you resolved to do – for yourself, for others – in 2016? Some people agonize over New Year's resolutions, only to ignore them. Some people set the bar too high, and then get mad at themselves for not keeping their resolutions. Others pick so many resolutions, they end up forgetting them all. I made one resolution this New Year. It's etched in my skin. I chose to be better.
There are two types of people we miss: Those we'll see again someday soon and those we won't, at least not in this life. Seventeen years ago, I left my home and home country, Brazil, and unwittingly found a home in these United States. Not a day goes by that I don't miss the people I left behind – childhood friends, my family – people who love me and whom I love. (In Portuguese, we have a word for this feeling: saudade, pronounced SAH-oo-DAH-jee.) But I know they're around, just a long flight away.
My "day job" – I cover the Southwest as Phoenix Bureau chief for The New York Times – takes me to all corners of Arizona and New Mexico, and exposes me to lots of different people, lifestyles and stories. As I like to say, every day at work is another day I learn a new lesson.
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WHY – AND HOW – I WRITEThe key to writing a good story is knowing what you don’t know and finding the right people and documents to help you learn it. You have a fundamental question that leads to a bunch of other questions that need to be answered so that your fundamental question makes sense. This is how I write. Follow along with Fernanda and get occasional stories. Archives
December 2019
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