Arrowroots International

To make the deadlines I have I'm going to upload excerpts from my book. Any and all feedback is welcome! Welcome to Russia St. Petersburg, Peter the Great’s masterpiece. Founded in 1703, as Russia’s gateway to Europe and now she’s more Russian than her cosmopolitan counterpart Moscow. My flight landed in Moscow at 2 PM the next day. After I disembarked from the plane into Domodedovo airport I found a payphone and made a collect call home. “I'm in Moscow." "James? It's five o'clock in the morning. Are you ok, son? Are you in Russia?” "Yes, Mom. I'm OK.  I'm sorry I had to call collect, but my Blackberry is on the fritz.” "So, are you ready to come home yet?” “I have to go find the gate for my flight to St. Petersburg. It’s really difficult because all of these signs are in Russian,” I joked. "Call me when you get to St. Petersburg. Love you.” With a couple of hours to spare before my flight I grabbed a Russian lang...

I used to loathe Africa. I considered it to be backwards, disease-ridden, and poverty stricken. I imagined that most Africans still lived in nomadic, tribal societies, wore loincloths, and lived uncomplicated lives in the bush. For nothing in the world would I go to Africa. There was nothing of interest to me there and I considered it to be a place of little value. My distaste for Africa increased when I started college in the fall of 2006. I was at an Ivy League school and I felt that every white person I met freshman year had volunteered or started some sort of non-profit to help Africa when they were in high school. I hated their passion and enthusiasm. I couldn't wrap my head around why a white girl from Orange County California would want to volunteer at an orphanage in Botswana. I was incredibly cynical and decided firmly that I would never allow myself to get caught up in their sick altruistic rapture. To make matters worse I became a minority amongst minorities. Most o...

I consider myself to be a fairly good writer. It's something that's always been fun and relatively easy for me to do. I've written countless essays, news articles, letters, postcards, poetry, and a few short stories here and there. However, the time and space between the time I write things is pretty vast. Therefore, I'm going to use this blog to write consistently about the things that interest me. I foresee a lot of entries about international relations, Africa, energy, oil and gas, and technology.  At the end of the day I hope to communicate my perspective to the world in a coherent, informative manner. I always strive to be entertaining and I like rhyming words. Consistency and quality. Finally, I hope to inspire. Inspire to try harder, fly farther, take on challenges, create, and change.