Coleman's Personal Essays

Posts

Do you ever eavesdrop?

I am habitually curious, so of course, I eavesdrop. I never mean to intrude on private space, my eyes are just prone to wandering. If my parents are on their phones next to me, I will always take a peek. My mom once told me that it’s the German in me. Indeed, Germany’s social rule on staring is far from America’s rules. In America, I’d say that people in public tend to not focus on others. If you look at any one person for too long, you’ve become creepy. German norms are the opposite. Everyone on the subway will be looking at one another, not in the eyes, but at their clothes, their bags, and whatever else can be studied at a glance. Staring is not rude at all. Staring at, and perhaps judging, others is not the taboo it is in America. It's true that I’ll also look at people in public, but not as much as my mom. Her favorite part of an airport is the different people. While I’m searching the carousel for my bags, she’s searching through the bystanders. If she finds someone inte...

To what piece of technology would you write a “love letter"

Technology is in every part of my life. Every day, I use my phone, laptop, and TV. However, if I think about any specific piece I would write a love letter to, it’s the Wii U. I have the most memories with this console than anything else. At its release in 2013, it was not received very well. To sum up what critics thought of it, “meh”. But as a 9-year-old whose Wii mini had finally broken, the Wii U was a beacon of light. The Wii U was very similar to the Wii, so the same wand-like motion controllers worked with it. The main change was the addition of the ‘gamepad’, a large controller with a screen in the middle which acted like a Nintendo DS. You had an iPad to play games on that connected to your TV. I made some of my best memories with the Wii U. I can still remember one specific sleepover when I was about 10. My best friend Tiago was over for the night. We bonded over video games, so we played the whole afternoon. The time passed quickly, and we needed to head to bed, ...

Is “doing nothing” a good use of your time?

Doing nothing often is not really doing nothing. Overanalytical people might say that you’re never “doing nothing” because you are always breathing, but “doing nothing” can be applied to a lot of scenarios. Because it is so broad, doing nothing is not always good or bad, it depends on what kind of nothing you’re doing. One definition of doing nothing is not being productive. If I have a paper due in two days and I spend an afternoon playing video games on the couch, you might say I’m doing nothing. My actions aren’t leading to anything consequential, therefore they are nothing. In this case, I consider doing nothing to be a bad use of my time. Of course, doing nothing could also be literally nothing. Sitting down with no activity to preoccupy myself with is not anything. This isn’t inherently bad or good because it is tough to categorize “nothing”. My personal definition of doing nothing, however, is being alone with my thoughts. Letting my head go through its own stream of conscious...

Would you mind if your parents blogged about you?

If my parents told me that they had been documenting my life on a blog, I would be pretty mad. What if they posted embarrassing photos of me, or told stories that I’m not comfortable with? Even if the blog was innocuous, I would still be a bit creeped out. I don’t want my life to be on the internet for just anyone to see. I like to keep my privacy online. I don’t put myself on social media much, aside from a sporadic Instagram post or story. When traveling, I like to use a VPN on public Wi-Fi to stay safe. Though to be honest, I don’t know if I would have the same opinion if I didn’t hear all about companies selling data on the internet. We are in an age where having your life on the internet is both at an all-time high and criticized at an all-time high. Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard the discussion. Everyone knows about Facebook, or now Meta, having data privacy issues. This even came to the point of a class action lawsuit with a 725-million-dollar settlement. Furt...

What hobbies have been passed down from your family?

I am the only one in my family to grow up in the Midwest. My father’s side is Bostonian, and my mother’s side is East German. Though I don’t have a lot in common with my family, sports have always connected us. Sport is somewhat of a universal language because it creates community through fandom. The sports I am a fan of have been totally molded by my family. Just like any other Clougherty, I’m a New England Patriots fan in American football, and just like any other Girndt, I’m a German national team fan in soccer. With these teams in common, I always have something to talk about. In any call with my dad’s parents, I can easily bring up the Pats. As I’ve grown up, my support for these teams has stayed strong, and it keeps me connected to my family. I know my grandpa and grandma will get me a Patriots shirt every Christmas. Similarly, my Tante Tanja recently got me a German national team jersey for my birthday. Not only does my love for sports keep me connected to my family, but it ...

Do you wish you could return to a moment in your past?

If I could return to any moment in my life, I would go back to my half-year sabbatical in Berlin. Though I was born and have spent many summers in the city, the sabbatical was the only time I’ve lived in Berlin for a prolonged period outside of the first four years of my life. During the sabbatical, I was not able to appreciate the brighter side of living in Berlin; I was preoccupied with stress and change. I fell ill almost every other week and lost nights catching up with classes. I joined a bilingual school in the second semester, so I urgently needed to get used to the new environment and routine. Despite this, my day-to-day life had many sweet moments I look back on. A return to the sabbatical would give me a chance to pay more attention to the delightful parts of my time in Berlin because if I think of my sabbatical nowadays, I think of the pleasant memories. I remember the route from my apartment to school easily, via buses and metro. Every morning my sister and I took a ...