Hello dearest readers, it is with great relief that I bid 2014 adieu. It was a tumultuous year, filled with some of the greatest joy and most terrible sorrow I have ever felt. My resolutions are simple: to love and listen to myself and others, to be kind to my body with exercise, water, veggies, and the occasional cookie, and to write, write, write. And here for you, are my final Sunday Reads of the year.

“I feel a strange sense of nostalgia, as though I were finally returning to a place I’ve never been” is one of many poignant lines from this gorgeous essay in online travel magazine Compass Cultura. They publish long-form pieces curated from every corner of the earth. Written by Peter Korchnak, “The Roses of Sarajevo” is a beautiful and bleak examination of the scars left behind by war.

One short piece I loved this week was a hilarious and irreverent look at racism in America, McSweeney’s spot-on “review” of the “invisible back-pack of white privilege.”

Since we’re on the topic of on-point satire, I can’t leave out this fantastic poem about the requirements to be a “real” New Yorker laid out by The Toast. One of the most eloquent stanzas reads:

“Real New Yorkers never eat at Grimaldi’s.

We never eat in Little Italy.

We never eat at chain restaurants.

We never eat at all.

Real New Yorkers consume nothing.”

If you’re looking for verse that’s a little more serious, check out this beautiful poem about addiction and recovery from The New Yorker. The thing I sometimes forget about poetry is that it touch some part of your spirit, even when you don’t quite understand it.

~

Right now I’m down in Santa Monica with my family reflecting, eating shamelessly frou frou food, and finally having time to relax. It’s been a pleasure sharing the first leg of my blogging journey with you; I feel like I’ve developed a much stronger voice than when I first started back in May. Sending love and blessings to everyone who has taken the time to read my words. You are greatly appreciated. I’ll write to you once more in this harried year, to bring you some New Years’ Eve Theatre News.

Love and theatre,

-K