Category: Essays

• Why Learning to Code Has Made Me a Better Writer

  Writers draw inspiration from everywhere—childhoods, travels, daily lives, memories, hopes, fears, dreams, imaginations. Almost everything that a writer does has some kind of influence on their creative work, shaping, informing, and changing the fabric of their creations. My own writing has undoubtedly been influenced by many aspects of my life. I’ve seen a lot of…

  Clarabelle Miray Fields

  November 29, 2020

  Essays, tech, writing

  coding, computers, good writing, stories, tech, technology, web dev, web development, writer, writing

• On Growing Up Middle Eastern After 9/11

  “Don’t forget to wear your nazar!” Growing up with Turkish and Syrian relatives, this sentiment was something I heard often as a child: warnings to remember to wear my nazar to protect myself from the evil eye. In casual conversation in the US, giving someone the evil eye often means giving someone a dirty look…

  Clarabelle Miray Fields

  October 24, 2020

  Essays

  essay, evil eye, international, memoir, middle east, nazar, superstition, syria, turkey, writer, writing

• Going Rogue: Why I Left Academia and It’s OK If You Do Too

  “Why aren’t you in graduate school?” This Chronicle article puts it well: “Graduate school in the humanities is about the implicit promise of the life of a middle-class professional, about being respected, about not hating your job and wasting your life. That dream is long gone in academe for almost everyone entering it now.” Yet…

  Clarabelle Miray Fields

  September 26, 2020

  Essays

  alt-ac, art, careers, creativity, personal development, self-help, writer, writing