Coleman's Personal Essays

 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...

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 ...

 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 ...