In a book I’ve been reading for my Duke TIP program, it described writers as neurotic. Now, I’ve looked it up, and neurotic is described as: abnormally sensitive, obsessive, or tense and anxious. (My first search yielded this answer: suffering from neurosis) 

I’ve spent a lot of time since reading that chapter, thinking about whether or not I could be neurotic. On the one hand, it seems completely plausible. I match all of the symptoms described, so why the hell not? On the other hand, I’m a teenager that once convinced herself that she had a terminal illness after reading WebMD for too long one day. 

The whole reason why I’m leaning towards the former answer is this flight. I spent the first five hours listening to broadway cast albums (Hamilton and Fun House) and different podcasts (Dear Hank and John, Alice isn’t Dead, and Within the Wires). As soon as I tried to listen to regular music and tried to get to sleep, I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, from moving my hands, from keeping my eyes open. It was horrible. The thing is, the moment I started writing this, I started to feel better, like I wasn’t going to need to sleep or anything. 

Of course this was all interrupted by bouts of semi-severe turbulence. 

The book that I had read was called, “Forest For The Trees.” It’s a great read for writers and other people alike.

Cheers, DFTBA, and Good Morning(?)
Anna Grace

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Announcement: I am getting on a plane tomorrow morning. 

Now back to our post about heart and gut wrenching movies on Netflix.

I wrote this while I was very emotional. Please forgive me, but also please read it.

This past week has been hard. It's been really super freaking hard. Not just for me, but for anybody with a heart. Unless, of course, you don't watch or read the news. 24 people have been killed this July in the States by police alone. 146 people are dead in South Sudan, killed on the eve of the fifth anniversary of their independence. There are so many more, but if I spoke of everybody that was killed this month, or even week, I'd be sitting at this desk for a long time.

Here are the names of the people who have died in the States this July as a result of a police gunshot:

July 7, 2016:

Vinson Ramos, California
Unknown, Alabama
Unknown, California
Micah Johnson, Texas

July 6, 2016:

Unknown, California
Unknown, Oklahoma
Philando Castille, Minnesota

July 5, 2016:

Sam Newby, California
Melissa Ventura, Arizona
Joshua Bolster, Oregon
Alton Sterling, Louisiana

July 4, 2016:

William Patterson, South Carolina
Unknown, Texas
Sidney Washington Jr., District of Columbia
Delrawn Small, New York
Anthony Nunez, California

July 3, 2016:

I have the honor of participating in the Duke University TIP eStudies program this year! Let me tell you how it's going so far!