Field Notes & Essays
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Parenting Unpacked · Maternity Abroad · Marked · The Things Nobody Names · The Marketing Underdog Project
I Need to Rethink the Beet Stain
My ritual for Marked used beet juice, and it may not last. I asked an AI for a better recipe, and now I am asking a human who can check it.
Brazilian Is a Way of Living
A French film made me ask who gets to be Brazilian. My answer is that it is a way of living, and anyone can live it if they want to.
I Felt My Soul Leave My Body at SIETAR Brasil. It Was About One Word.
I prepared my SIETAR Brasil presentation in Portuguese, then had to switch to English. One word sent my brain into a full professional meltdown.
The Question I Did Not Get to Ask at SIETAR Brasil
What happens when an automated answer is the only one you have and you cannot check it?
I Caught a Few Words From a Keynote. So I Went Looking.
After hearing a few words from a keynote on Day One of SIETAR Brasil 2026, I explore tolerance, acculturation, cultural hierarchy, and who is expected to adapt.
What Good Intentions Do Not Buy You.
What happens when your good intentions are not enough to earn someone’s trust? A reflection on racial caution, the inherited scorecard, and what we owe one another.
You Are One of the Good Ones. But What Does That Make Everyone Else?
I have heard it more than once in more than one country. You are one of the good kind of immigrant. It was always meant kindly. This post is what happened when I started thinking about what it meant.
It Is Not That I Am Losing My Mind. I Think I Already Lost It.
I was interviewed by Bold Journey, an American magazine. I am not calm about this.
What If a Tradition Outlived the Reason It Began? Building the Culture of Marked.
How do traditions change when their original purpose disappears? I am researching the culture of my dystopian novel Marked and inviting experts to contribute.
I Was Just Trying to Get Kids Outside. Apparently I Am Building a Village.
My gym poussette coach said it was nice what I was doing for my neighbors because people used to have a village. I had not thought of it that way.
SIETAR Brasil 2026: I Will Be There and I Am Bringing the Books.
Ruth Van Reken will keynote at SIETAR Brasil 2026 on October 22nd and 23rd in São Paulo. Jessica Gabrielzyk will be on a panel with Maternity Abroad and Parenting Unpacked. Weee!
When Parenting Choices Make You Feel Like a Stranger in Your Own Family
A psychologist reading Parenting Unpacked made me realise that feeling like a stranger does not require moving countries. Sometimes motherhood changes your place within your own family.
I Promise No More Spoilers. But… yeah.
Gaia asked me what Brazilian traditions I am going to pass down to my daughter. I have been writing about identity for two years. I had no answer. This is that post.
I Recorded the Podcast. But First, Help Me Figure Something Out.
During a recent podcast recording, I was asked why I keep moving countries. My answer sounded like a drug confession. Here is what is actually going on.
The Episode Is Out.
I joined Culture Capsule UAE Part 2 to talk about Maternity Abroad, expat guilt, and building a village when yours is on the wrong continent.
I Want to Show You Something: Bilingualism in a Nutshell.
Parenting Unpacked went through two years of research and five full drafts. Here is what the bilingualism chapter looked like before it became what it is.
Wait. Whose Etiquette?
A topic came up in conversation: Brazilians are not educated in the etiquette expected in global corporate environments. My brain immediately went: wait, whose etiquette? This is that post.
You Think You Know Who You Are. Then You Move Countries.
Margery Pimentel discusses migration, racial identity, immigrant motherhood, healthcare abroad and the psychological cost of constantly adapting to a new country.
This Is Where The Fiction Book Started in My Head.
It was February 2020. We had just landed in Ireland. I stood in front of the Famine Memorial in Dublin and started reading about Irish history.