best country in the world

“Welcome to the best country in the world” he said as he grabbed by luggage and put it in his car. I just landed in to the Dominican Republic for the first time in 6 years. The last time I was here was for my grandmother’s funeral. After that I swore I would never come back. I hated this country and a part of me still does.

            This place couldn’t possibly be the best country in the world. As we drove down the narrow road towards the resort we would pass by abandoned houses that were halfway done. They were all made out of cement bricks. We drove down what seemed like a ghost town. The fences consisted of barb wire that wrapped around sticks of wood.

            The men would stare you down as you’d walk to the corner store and whistle at you. Every day you would hear a horror story about a delinquent murdering cops and stealing cars. You had to be careful with your things even with the people you think you trust most.

            As we went farther down the road the houses started to disappear and we were driving towards a great mountain. There were palm trees that swayed with the wind and cows all over. The sky was bright blue and the temperature was perfect. I felt like crying for hating this country so much. It doesn’t feel like the safest place in the world but it is the most beautiful place I have ever been to.

  

L’appel du vide

            Have you ever felt like throwing away your phone like Julia Roberts does in oceans eleven? Have you ever noticed that you have control as to weather or not a pedestrian gets to live as you sit in your car with your foot on the breaks? No? Is that just me?

            Before you commit me to a looney bin hear me out. There are moments in life where you have this urge to do something irrational just because you know you could. It’s that feeling you get when you’re arguing with someone and clench your fist but decide to not throw that punch.

            L’appel du vide Translates literally as “call of the void”. The urge some people get to jump from high places when they encounter them, for example when close to the edge of cliffs. 

            It’s that urge you get when you want to tell someone to shut the fuck up. All you have to do is say it and it’s done. You have the ability to say it but something is stopping you from doing it. it's scary to think that people get these urges but it happens all the time. in every situation your in you think of the extreme way out, which isn't the only way to solve it.

                                                                    

the social network

Can you live without Facebook?

Can you live without instagram?

Twitter?

Tumblr?

The Internet?

There are times that I wish I could just delete all of my accounts and disappear. Sometimes I wish I could be like those people who have no Facebook. Ironically they seem cooler than those who do.

The internet is this place that allows us to know what our friends are doing at every waking moment. You have the luxury of knowing if any of your high school classmates got pregnant or what level of candy crush your co worker is on. you get to know who is online and how long ago they were on facebook. You get to know all of this useless information and get to make it sound exciting.

We are all taking selfies and putting up deep but vague quotes as statuses in hopes of being accepted by others. We put out the sides that we want others to see online. This side is separate from our realties. This side becomes our alter egos.

What would happen if you unplugged yourself from this virtual world? Who would you be left with?

the neighborhood #2 The Police

After being flashed at the train station my sister called the cops. Like I said before it was hot out. One cop car came up to the station as we waited in terror. It had been the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life. I couldn’t wrap my head around what had just happened.

The cop came out of his car with a small notepad in his hand. I wanted to just run home and forget about the whole thing but my sister begged me to stay. It was getting dark out and even with the cop by my side I still felt unsafe. It didn’t feel like this whole ordeal was over. Within the next few minutes two other cop cars came by. I guess there was nothing else to do that night.

I searched through my phone for a picture of Charlie day or the lead singer of this band called biffy clyro. The flasher looked a lot like them. The cop seemed uninterested in the pictures and more interested on how this all happened.

 I had on big pink shorts and a white tee but I felt naked that day. The cops all talked amongst themselves and I could hear the female cop mention my attire. By that point I felt annoyed and just wanted to walk home.

It isn’t the victim’s fault for being victimized. Thank God the situation did not escalate to the point that we would be talking about rape. But in the cases where females have been, they shouldn’t be blamed because of what they are wearing.