They're falling apart, hinges like sad clown faces crammed with pasta and dried beans, water chestnuts and vinegar. The floor is real with the paths of scratch Marco, where chairs are pushed back from tables, the elevators in the hallway with their heavy metal doors that rattle opened and closed. They're real, but the neighbors that smoke foul cigarettes and argue, well, they're just angry ghosts. My films are still in festivals, but virtual ones
Jessica McMillan
@JLMcMillan · 2:42
And as a parent, that's just one of the most terrifying things I can think of. Not necessarily that that's exactly your scenario. Having lived abroad for a couple of years, I can also identify with that very dreamlike state that the previous place had even definitely not 15 years. But I would say even within a year or two, we have adapted to our new environment. I think so approximately, that the other stuff takes a back shelf
Marco North
@Marconorth · 4:19
This piece that I wrote on Monday that I decided to read here. Categorically, I think I've written one that's fairly underwhelming, and it's a real beast to sort of think it went somewhere. And of course, when I post this on Facebook, I got such an avalanche of reactions of how much this resonates with people living in other cultures and other places. And I'm talking about their situation as much as my own
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:41
Hey, this is such a pleasure to hear you read your writing. It's different. It feels like there's a part of you that when you read it, I feel the the ache in a different way. But your writing is beautiful. And I just signed up for your newsletter. It's so interesting to hear people's expat stories and their stories of defining what home is and making home where you don't feel at home
Marco North
@Marconorth · 3:02
And then I kind of understood it's much better to put a picture with the piece, even if it's some weird connection to it. I'm going to put a link to one of the really old ones. This is like, just from the first year, just so that you get this perspective of on the one hand, my experiences are like, I'm on Mars, and people are like, oh, my God, I can't imagine life like that