by Eileen | Jun 21, 2021 | Uncategorized
Of all the household tasks, perhaps the most vexing is the putting on of the duvet cover. For those who don’t know, the duvet cover is a giant pillowcase-type-thing that goes on a down (or whatever) quilt. But unlike a pillow, the down duvet has no body to it,...
by Eileen | Apr 8, 2020 | Uncategorized
Way back in a recess of my mind I am sitting in the backyard on East 19th Street in Brooklyn and it is early summer. My grandmother is sitting in one of those woven beach chairs with the light aluminum frame, like the one she uses when she sits out in front of her...
by Eileen | Dec 9, 2018 | chile, feria, food, health, stomach snafu
There is this piece of Smith family lore, by which I usually mean to introduce something false, which I will later disprove or reframe, except in this case it’s true. It tells of a time when I, fresh from a brutally cold winter in Santiago, landed in my...
by Eileen | Oct 18, 2017 | art, chile, gallery, santiago, Uncategorized
At any event in Chile, you are sure to find people selling something. Some of these people live mainly outside of the formal economy, selling different things at events and wherever crowds are likely to gather. Others are supplementing what they make at their regular...
by Eileen | Feb 24, 2017 | chile, haha, language, santiago
When I was living in DC, I worked at a publishing company, writing business-to-business compliance manuals and newsy bits about environmental law. It was a pretty big office, maybe 60-80 people, and there was a core group of folks that I would make coffee-machine...
