Sara Brenes-Akerman

I am four years older than the kid that cried at the airport, four years more certain of who I am and four years more confident. But I’m not quite sure of all that much, except that the past four years have been good.

Home is comfortable and secure — the easy option.But choosing what’s easy can be scary in its own right. If New York is too foreign, San Jose almost feels too familiar.

I don’t feel like being compressed to quick sound bites anymore. It’s time to bounce back and say the things that don’t fit in a tweet.

I’ve been immensely happy during our time together. This American Life is always there for me, offering reliably stunning narratives as a symbol of its love.

Costa Rica’s status as a tourist’s paradise has made it a divided country — one that leads a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of existence.

Mojo is a hard thing to define but easy to recognize. You either have it or you don’t. And I did not.

I fell in love with romantic comedies. And my love has proven to be as enduring as the brand of romance that they so relentlessly attempt to portray.

Not getting a perfect job or flunking an assignment can very well make us feel worthless. But it’s time to start untying our self-worth from our performance.

I expect my personal heroes to be perfect — to be the people whom I have meticulously imagined them to be. But remembering David Sedaris’ humanity made meeting him more rewarding.

Talking about cancer in the context of science is easy. Talking about cancer in the context of life is something different altogether.