finding beauty in the everyday
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Animals
The animals of Addo National Park outside of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I ride in the back of a Toyota Land Cruiser with three German tourists. Our guide plays reggae and tells us about the industrial outskirts of town as we make the 30 minute drive to Addo. Pee now, once in the park you…
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SA
It’s like California in the 1950’s, he told me. But, I didn’t quite get it until we landed. Stepping from the plane to the tarmac, a warm, slightly humid breeze blows. On Sunday afternoon, the city of Port Elizabeth looks deserted. As we head out of town, I reflexively jerk repeatedly, not yet used to…
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Masks and Mayhem
Once upon a time, I took an overnight train ride from Albuquerque to Los Angeles for spring break with my mom and my sister. It was sometime in the mid nineties, pre cell phones or internet and back when they played one nightly movie in the lounge car. On this particular journey, the movie that…
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Circus
A billboard on the Las Vegas strip counts the national debt as it ticks up every second, $70K+ per person in the US, and growing. I am wandering alone, unable to get into a hotel room booked in another’s name. Five hours to kill. Two showgirls pass, photos for tips. I hold the phone and…
Smagik is Claire Sandrin’s personal blog of writing and photographs dedicated to finding beauty in the everyday. It covers everything from how to brand yourself as a creative, making a professional pivot in middle age, travels to Amsterdam, and recipes for grain free chocolate zucchini cake. Join me for the adventure that is this life!
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