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Katy’s Guide to Galveston Read more
Know Before You Go: Yosemite National Park Read more
Know Before You Go: Mexico City Read more
Japan: 7 Things I’d Do Differently Read more
Our Yosemite Trip in Photos Read more
We Should All Be Environmentalists Read more
Favorite Memories: Two Weeks in Japan Read more
Goshuin: Japan’s Most Unique Souvenir Read more
Chicago CityPASS: Worth It? Read more
Know Before You Go: Big Bend Read more
13 Ways to be a Responsible Traveler Read more
My Favorite Trip Planning Tools Read more
Plastic-Free July Read more
Mini Adventures: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir of Houston Read more
26 Photos to Inspire Your Banff Wanderlust Read more
The “Between Adventures Blues” Read more
30 Photos to Inspire Your Icelandic Wanderlust Read more
Itinerary: 8 Days in Iceland Read more
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I haven’t been trading platforms everywhere, but it’s on my list.

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In 2019, my travels are taking me to:

New York cheapest online trading platform south africa City (January)
Washington DC (January)
Washington DC (February)

I am also committing to the 52 Hike Challenge, follow along here!

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I'm Katy

Girl of two countries, trading platform career environmentalist, intersectional feminist, adventurer, and ice cream enthusiast.

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  • 59 years + 8 days ago, four courageous men staged a sit-in at the segregated lunch counter at Woolworth’s, right here in Greensboro, North Carolina. The official policy of this business was to refuse service to anyone but whites. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. Police arrived on the scene, but were unable to take action due to the lack of provocation. The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges. Within a few days over 300 students had joined the protest at Woolworth’s, paralyzing the lunch counter and other local businesses. In the next few months, their continuing sit-in actions had inspired a movement across 55 cities in 13 states. With the nation’s eyes upon them, these men created a movement of change with their iconic use of non-violent direct action. I’m taking every opportunity I can this Black History Month to learn and become a better ally. If you’d like to do the same, this museum is a great place to get educated, and if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, @rachel.cargle is posting some great research prompts so we can discover and respect the history of the African American community. Now go forth, learn, and be the best ally you can be! ••• 📍Catawba land
  • Yesterday marked three months for me at my new job. For the first time in my career I feel seen, appreciated, and included, and it’s wonderful. For the first years of my career, I was one of two BIPOC for the majority of that period. I began to feel uncomfortable with the lack of diversity and inclusivity I was experiencing. Last year, I received an invite to a BIPOC exclusive networking event at a conference and I was so excited to connect with women like myself, brown skinned with a passion for intersectional environmentalism and climate justice. But when my manager found out about the networking event, she told me “That’s so unnecessary. It’s like self segregation. If white people had an event like that there would be mass outrage.” And instantly I felt my excitement dissipate. I felt sick to my stomach and so misunderstood. I’ve spent my entire life feeling underrepresented in some way, and at that moment I felt it more than ever in my passion, my chosen career field. And that’s the day I decided it was time for me move on and begin my search for the next step in my career. I had dreams of joining an org that upheld the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, instead of being part of the many who use them as a PR ploy. For many regional environmental NGOs, diversity, equity, and inclusion are a struggle. There is an extreme shortage of BIPOC in my field, and it’s disheartening considering the people we serve, the people who live in the most polluted communities, the people who will suffer climate change’s effects the worst, the people who have the highest rates of cancer from proximity to industry, they’re most often communities of color. During my first few months at my current job, I’ve seen women who I could identify with in many places throughout our org. Latina women, Indigenous women, Asian women, Black women, mixed race women. Representation matters. It always has and it always will. I can’t wait to one day be the WOC role model I needed those years ago when I was beginning to forge my own path in this field. ••• 📍Ahwahneechee land
  • This interactive art installation tells the story of an iceberg, from its calving into Arctic waters to its final melting near a southern shore. Inspired by this monumental natural instrument, Iceberg consists of a series of illuminated metallic arches that each produce a particular sound. Arranged as a tunnel, the arches invite visitors to enter, listen to and play the giant organ, as its notes and light travel the musical corridor from end-to-end. Human activity “warms up” the ice monuments and transforms their original nature into a visual and auditory symphony. I’m so glad I got to experience this beautiful and moving piece that provides a message on global climate change through artistic expression. ••• 📍Lenape land
  • A few facts about the Lenape, the people whose land Manhattan sits upon. 🏙 Lenape means “Original People,” and the Lenape are the Original New Yorkers. In fact, the name Manhattan comes from the Lenape “Manahatta,” meaning “hilly island.” 🌃 Broadway was built upon an Indigenous trade route called Wickquasgeck that extended from New York Harbor all the way to present-day Boston. 🏙 “Pagganck” means “nut island,” and that is the Indigenous name for Governor’s Island. It was named for the areas abundance of hickory nut trees. 🌃 Washington Square Park serves roughly the same purpose today as it did for the Lenape 500 years ago. Back then it was a clearing which functioned as a gathering spot, marketplace, and cultural hub where the Lenape played games and music. 🏙 Historians say the Lenape knowingly sold their land to the Dutch, but I’ll decolonize that narrative. In 1625, the Dutch East India Company negotiated a deal with the Lenape. The Lenape, not understanding the colonizers' idea of "private property" were happy to share the land with the new Dutch. They called them "brothers" and invited them to their homes and villages, introduced them to their communities and taught them how to cultivate the land. But the Dutch weren't interested in sharing. The Dutch were interested in owning, and for $24 plus a few beads and trinkets, ownership is exactly what their treaty said they established. The Lenape thought that the gifts were friendship offerings, and expected to subsist in the land with the settlers. They had no idea that they were giving their homes to the Dutch for "exclusive ownership.” 🌃 After that shady business, the Dutch erected a wall around their settlement of New Amsterdam to keep Indigenous people and the British out. Wall Street now exists where that wall once stood. 🏙 The Lenape people now mainly live in Oklahoma, Ontario, and New Jersey. But many returned to the city in 2018 to hold their first Pow Wow since the Dutch forced them out in the 1700s. That is resilience. That is resistance. 🌃 Thanks for reading! Have you taken the time to read up on the Indigenous people of the area where you live or have traveled? ••• 📍Lenape land
  • 🗽 I have so much floating around in my head today. Thinking about the 12 million immigrants who came through Ellis Island has me reflecting on my own history quite a bit. Being mixed race is weird sometimes, ya know? I have ancestors who have occupied the Americas for millennia, and then I have ancestors who came in and forced my other ancestors off their lands many centuries ago. I have ancestors who came to America from Europe by way of New York City, and I also have an ancestor who came from Asia by way of Honolulu. How crazy is it that from all corners of the world, my ancestors somehow found each other through generations, and as a result I get to exist. We are all the product of all our ancestors getting together and deciding these stories need to be told. ••• 📍Lenape land
  • Books are magic and so are we 🔮✨ ••• 📍Lenape & Canarsie land
  • The only type of mirror selfie ya gonna see me share. ••• 📍Catawba & Tuscarora territory
  • A Saturday well spent. ••• 📍Catawba territory

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