faith Archives - Beka Watts

September 22, 2014

Dear Victoria: An open letter to career confused creatives

Victoria and I met through the wonder that is blogging and social media. Please consider this a PSA that you should also meet Victoria through blogging and social media. Her blog, Vicstorya, is awesome, as are her Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Recently, in an exchange longer than 140 characters, she asked one of my favorite Frequently Asked Questions:

What was your major? And what exactly is your job/how did you get there/how do I best go about having your life in a few years?

Oh, Victoria.

She had no way of knowing that she would receive a dissertation in … Continue reading

August 31, 2014

Comfort food

Anne Lamott says there are three essential prayers: “Help,” “thanks,” and “wow.” Yesterday I went for a mature spin on the first one, which mostly sounded like, “Could You help me, like, AT ALL?!”

It was a long day.

Which made the presence of good food all the more welcome. In the past 2 days, I’ve eaten:

Another round of the breakfast of champions
Pho at the farmer’s market with a chicken egg roll. (Because they were out of vegetable.) (Because that’s what happens when you go at 3pm after chasing lemons at used car lots for hours.) (But

June 25, 2014

Clearly, I was spot-on

When I was in the first round of interviews for my job with CURE, my interviewer (and soon-to-be boss) asked if there was anything specific I needed in order to do my job. Was there any accommodation or computer program or asset I would find particularly helpful should I end up working for CURE?

The first and only thing I knew I needed was freedom. I needed to know that it would be possible for me to work from home or from a coffee shop a few days a week. I had spent years engineering a freelance life that could … Continue reading

May 19, 2014

The career bus stop

On Friday night I had dinner with Morgan and covered our conversation with more exclamation points in an hour than most people use in a year. There are many places in life right now for which there are no words, so I’ve taken to filling those places with exclamation points. I wouldn’t question a person who decided it wise to offer me a sedative. It probably seems like I need one.

Which only made it more impactful when we recalled that less than a year ago I sat in Morgan’s passenger seat after going out for breakfast on a rainy, … Continue reading

April 26, 2014

Hello, Africa. Farewell, Football.

Well there’s a blog title I never thought I’d write.

But don’t panic! It’s different than it sounds. Kind of.

Let’s just go ahead and talk about Africa and football and all the things, really. Starting with football.

(I mean, is there any other way?)

When I think about what football means to me, I don’t think about banner-moments of fandom: watching Brett Favre run around the field as a kid, going through multiple packets of tissues while visiting Lambeau for a day, experiencing the 2010 Super Bowl season in the most amazing way.

The first thing that comes … Continue reading

March 14, 2014

The day I met Kevin and Amazing Raced through JFK

Before I wax poetic about all things Dominican Republic, let me tell you about two moments that set the tone for the trip.

On Tuesday, I was scheduled to fly from Harrisburg to Detroit to JFK to Santo Domingo. To some, this may sound like an unfortunate loop of travel, but to me, this was paradise. I love flying. I love airports. The more the merrier.

My affection for airports was proven as soon as I landed in Detroit. I was making my way to the gate for the second flight of the day and was on the moving walkway … Continue reading

February 25, 2014

Not one mistake

In light of the fact that this is not coming to you from sunny Santo Domingo, this quote from yesterday’s post seems like the ultimate jinx:

“Ironically, I am actually on my way to an island right now. By the time this is posted I will be somewhere in the sky en route to the Dominican Republic.”

I would say that the joke is on me, but if it is, it’s the best joke ever.

As we boarded the plane yesterday, my heart was feeling a little bit heavy. My uncle passed away last week and his funeral was scheduled … Continue reading

February 24, 2014

On the mainland

I absolutely loved doing a trave l season for admissions last fall. It was the definition of a perfect job for me. I got paid to drive all over the northeast in a gorgeous rental car, spending every day surrounded by fall foliage, ESPN radio, city lights, and Pandora soundtracks. I got to interact with people in a way I’m good at: meeting strangers, making a positive first impressive, and exchanging concrete data (majors and numbers) with a dash of harmless personal information (short stories and anecdotes about why Roberts is such a special place). At the end of every … Continue reading

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