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Alyssa Writes

Alyssa Writes

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Musings

fort de france, martinique, feel like home, what is home, street art, colourful houses
Life Abroad, Musings

What is “Home” When You’re In Constant Motion?

1 August, 2018

  Home It’s an elusive term, isn’t it? It’s why we have so many aphorisms about it: “Home is where the heart is.” “A man [sic] travels to figure out what he’s looking for and returns home to find it.” “Home is where I can look and feel ugly and enjoy it.” Okay, maybe not…

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Alyssa 4 Comments
Honest Ed's at dusk
Musings, Toronto Francais

Toronto, je t’aime

6 July, 2018

  En sortant du métro vers le remue-ménage du centre-ville du samedi soir mon coeur sursaute. Parfois, je marche dans la ville juste pour voir ce qu’elle fait, Toronto. Est-ce qu’elle est bruyante ? Est-ce qu’elle rit ? J’aime ses quartiers, sa diversité, et le fait qu’on puisse sortir chaque soir pendant un an sans…

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Alyssa 3 Comments
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Gaudi, Spanish History
Europe, Musings

On Spain: An Unfinished Country

16 May, 2018

I sat quietly among the flurry of languages on L2 on the Barcelona metro. We were heading west towards La Pau, but few would go that far. At 2:30 in the afternoon, it was unlikely that these were commuters. I looked around and tried to guess who would be getting off at the same stop…

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Alyssa 4 Comments
rose de porcelain, porcelain rose, flowers in Martinique
Musings

Break-Up Letter # 1

22 March, 2018

I would really like it if we could stay friends. There are so many things I love about you, parts of you I find charming, and I put so much into our relationship: trying new things, meeting your friends and family, but it didn’t fulfill me. I waded in the deepest rivers of your soul…

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Alyssa 15 Comments
Life Abroad, Musings, Toronto

When Home Isn’t Home Anymore

13 February, 2018

I stood in front of the red double doors of a Toronto subway carriage, holding on to the silver stanchion and staring at the reflection of myself in the window pane. It wasn’t the same reflection I saw seven months ago, before I had moved to the Caribbean. My skin was tanned and my hair…

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Alyssa 4 Comments
Musings

101 Things I’ve Been Doing Instead of Writing on this Blog

14 April, 2017

It’s been a busy challenging few months. I haven’t written anything for this blog since December and truth be told, I’ve been feeling less than inspired to write in general. I’m coming to the end of my master’s degree and starting over putting the finishing touches on my thesis. In any case, change is in…

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Alyssa 3 Comments
Musings

Travelling While Black is a Radical Act

5 December, 2016

A good friend of mine is studying to be a lawyer. I said to her yesterday that I was surprised she’s going in such a ‘corporate’ direction — not because she shouldn’t be, but because her side projects are strongly oriented towards social justice in the Black and Indigenous communities. I just assumed her decision…

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Alyssa 2 Comments
Caribbean, Musings

11+ Clichés About the Caribbean I’m Sick of Reading

4 October, 2016

“To me the Caribbean was a bag of clichés of rasta locked, ganja smoking, reggae listening chillers who live on palm filled islands surrounded by clear blue water whilst swigging rum. I had no idea how right I was.” — Caribbean Paradise: Cuba Libres, coconuts and confirming clichés on Little Corn   I cringe almost every…

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Alyssa 1 Comment
anthropology grad student, questions not to ask a grad student, grad student life
Musings

7 Things You Don’t Ask an Anthropology Graduate Student

25 November, 2015

I’m nearing the end of my first term of graduate studies! In honour of the new discipline (anthropology), I’ve been conducting my own research on graduate student life. I’m using the most robust of methods: participant observation. It seems to me that grad life is hard. The graduate student recipe looks something like this: Take…

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Alyssa 6 Comments
Life Abroad, Musings

I’m Back in Canada. But I’m Not Home.

13 October, 2015

(Goodness I’m melodramatic!) Things are slow here on the blog, but it certainly hasn’t felt that way for me on the ground. I got back to Canada at the end of August and started my MA program just over a week later. I barely had time to reconnect with friends, many of whom I haven’t…

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Alyssa 2 Comments
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Who am I?

alyssa james, freelance writer, content marketer, alyssa writes

I’m Alyssa — PhD Student and Freelance Writer based in New York City! I write about Travel and Social Justice. Words in MSN, Bustle, the Globe and Mail, Porthole Cruise Magazine, The Local, Matador Network, and more.

About | Hire Me

Where Am I Writing?

Where I Was:

Aix-en-Provence | Thailand | Bali

Where I Am:

New York

Where I Will Be:

Colombia | Martinique | Japan

What Am I Reading?

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