Trace in Chicago: finding Ai Wei Wei in Lincoln Park

You couldn't tell, by looking at the exterior, what awaits you once you walk through the door.
For the last couple of years, we have walked by a construction site half a block from our house, wondering what they were doing in there. It was an older four story apartment building, and what at the beginning looked like a regular renovation, soon enough was clear to be something else. They were preserving... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
May 20, 2018 at 7:25 pm • 

Let's make World Hearing Day a day of appreciation and prevention

I am a complainer. Almost a professional one. And, yes, that is a thing, but I think they call them comedians. But, now seriously, aren’t we all? Like many others, I spend too much of my time complaining about lack of time, sleep, money, excess of work, the impossibility of balancing said work, family and... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
March 3, 2018 at 12:42 pm • 

Spring. A reluctant poem.

I have always been an avid reader of poetry. When I was little I was the only kid in my class excited when we had to recite poems in front of everyone. I haven’t forgotten a verse of any of them. When I was fifteen and my godson was born the happiest and calmest baby ever,... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
January 22, 2018 at 6:26 pm • 
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Why I decided to become a US citizen in the Trump era

One year ago, on November 9th 2016, I woke up to watch the news in a stupor. As the election wasn’t progressing in any way that made sense, I had gone to bed early the night before, after Pennsylvania, or Ohio, or Michigan, was called. There were so many that I don’t remember the details... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
November 9, 2017 at 6:00 am • 

When democracy turns into democrazy: Let me try to explain this Catalonia mess

  I have to start saying that try is the operative word here. Because, as it turns out, understanding from 5000 miles away how your country suddenly seems to be blowing up in pieces is not that easy. I am by no means an expert, although I have fervorously followed politics since I was a... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 29, 2017 at 1:22 pm • 

Passport confidential: the most surreal customs experience

It is funny how much a piece of paper can affect your mood. Or your life, for that matter. The other day I couldn’t find my Spanish passport for 24 hours, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. I don’t really understand why, as at this point, and being the proud owner of two of... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 22, 2017 at 7:33 pm • 
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What my kids are missing for living "abroad"

The other day, a friend asked me a question that took me a while to answer: “Why haven’t you returned to Spain?” It’s not like I don’t think about it. I actually think about it a whole lot more than I like to admit. But I needed some time to come up with a reason... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 7, 2017 at 2:40 pm • 

Two legs and an ocean

  JUNE, probably three days into a new job I listen to Passenger sing “Don’t cry for the lost, smile for the living”. I try to work on my shiny new dream job, where everyone is being beyond lovely in the coolest office I have seen (not that I have seen those many…) and I... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
September 19, 2017 at 11:22 pm • 

The year we forgot 9/11

I have never written about 9/11 before. For no reason I could think of, it always felt frivolous to me. It wasn’t until today that I understood why. I wasn’t an American, so it somehow seemed wrong for me to write about something that so terribly shook the heart of a nation. This year, for... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
September 12, 2017 at 12:36 am • 
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The hardest decisions are the ones you make on behalf of someone else

*This post was written during ChicagoNow’s Blogapalooz-Hour for June 2017. During Blogapalooz we are given a prompt and we have one hour to post. This is today’s prompt: “Write about a decision you made that changed the course of your life for better or worse.” DISCLAIMER: this is a post about a decision taken by us. In... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
June 28, 2017 at 10:08 pm •