Memory

The Line on the Dojo Wall

09 Jul 2026

In 1989 I trained Shotokan karate at Academia Meikyo, in QI 7 of Guará I, in Brasília.

I was 10 years old.

I no longer remember the teacher’s name. I don’t remember the name of the other instructor either, a Black woman, incredibly talented, wearing a gi so white it seemed to glow. That still bothers me today. Some people pass through our lives for a short time and leave an image so strong that it keeps existing inside us decades later.

The Circus I Never Saw

12 Jun 2026

I must have been five or six years old.

I went to Colégio Estadual Tomaz Edison Andrade Vieira, in the Borba Gato neighborhood of Maringá, in the state of Paraná, Brazil.

Next to the school there was a large vacant lot. One day a circus showed up there.

Back then, when a circus came to town, it was an event. The kids talked about it during class, at recess, and on the way home. They said there were animals, clowns, and attractions I had never seen.