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Thoughts on Intellectual Isolation

I didn't even know this was a thing. The past few weeks have had me feeling uninspired with a number of sleepless nights. I'm currently writing this a few minutes past 3am after having a conversation with one of my friends about what's been keeping me up. I've been feeling intellectually isolated (in true millennial fashion, I googled very specific phrases of what i've been feeling, and that's the term the internet gave me for it). Intellectual isolation, at least in my case, is the feeling of craving more intellectually stimulating conversations with your peers. The feeling of wanting to talk to people who get you, don't judge and add insight to your thoughts. When you don't find those people or those types of conversations, you shut yourself in. I've been trying my best to integrate myself in social situations for the past couple of weeks in search of people with similar thoughts and interests. But even in just the inner circle of people I asso

Understanding Reality Bites in 2018

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In light of the most recent court hearing of Brett Kavanaugh and this article from Vox which parallels Brett Kavanaugh's high school experience to the one offered by the 80's teen classic Sixteen Candles, I've been going back to my favorite films from the 80's and 90's with a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the influence and expectations that these films have set for our generation.  Reality Bites - which stars then 'it' girl Winona Ryder as Lelaina Pierce and the forever brooding dream boy Ethan Hawke as Troy Dyer was released in 1994 and is easily one of my favorite coming-of-age films from that decade. I watched this movie for the first time when I was about seven years old. My siblings rented it out on VHS and i've been re-watching it almost every year for twenty years. My best friend and I still talk about recreating that scene in the car where Lelaina and Vickie jam out to Tempted by Squeeze (I'm Lelaina in this scenario btw

An Introspection On Island Life

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If I could tell my younger self two things about island life it would be: 1. You are going to have so much fun. 2. "Taking it easy" doesn't always mean that it's going to be easy. I was having a chat with a good friend over some beers and scotch about how nobody ever really talks about this. Everyone's seen the perfect instagram feed and the glamorous and scenic beach shots accompanied by #islandlife, but nobody really warned us that island living could be harsh and maybe the biggest slap in the face of reality we didn't know we needed. I was 22yrs old when I decided to leave the city where I was born and raised, to move to a little tropical island where I ended up living for four years. The idea was just so romantic. I left my job, my friends, and my family. I took a job as the marketing officer and front desk of a bed and breakfast. I was excited. I was looking forward to waking up to a beautiful beachfront view from the window of my adorable qua

Welcome To My Little Corner!

My name is Monique, and for most of my life i've been calling myself a writer. I've written a lot of things for a lot of companies, individuals and publications but i've never really written anything for myself (mostly because of fear. Fear of a lot of things that I honestly don't have the time to unpack right now haha). That's what this site will be. My little corner of the internet where i'll be writing for myself (while at the same time showing clients what I can do). A wise friend recently told me that you can differentiate activities in to two categories, either consumption or creation. Consumption being things like watching TV, listening to music, reading a book, eating, drinking, surfing the web, etc. while creation is drawing, writing, knitting, cooking, or working on anything. In my case, almost all my activities fall under consumption -this is why I am able to develop my tastes but not know what to do with it. It balances one out if there's a ha