On a recent Sunday, my house was about to be full in the way my heart loves best. My three boys were home to celebrate their older brother Alexander's 26th birthday. Laughter, games and a big family meal in the making: enchiladas in the oven, nachos on the way. The nachos were a favorite of mine: pre-seasoned crumbled tofu, toasted in a pan with onions, garlic, and all the yummy nacho fixings. There was just one problem. The bag was frozen solid, a rock of tofu. And so, in a

On June 10th, 2026 the world lost Gautam Ji. I didn't know how to sit with that sentence when I first heard it. It's taken me over two months to digest. Some things arrive too quickly, and all you can do is let them pass through you like cold water — feeling everything and nothing at once. 🕯️ Gautam Ji was my Vedanta teacher, my guru whose classes I attended every Saturday and Sunday for several years. He had been traveling to India often. We knew that. Sciatic pain, we'd

Watching Venezuela win the World Baseball Classic filled my heart in a way that’s hard to describe—but as I always say to my students, I’ll try. I’m a Venezuelan in the diaspora. I left as a little girl, and I haven’t been able to visit my family back home in over 17 years—I felt this victory in my soul. The pride wasn’t only about the win. It was the spirit of the team: the joy, the celebration, the smiles. In all of it, I saw my primos, my tíos, and my brothers. Their joy w