about this
This is a meditation on the intersection of belonging and identity, transitions and thresholds, and designing an intentional life.

What’s in a Name?
First name Emily. Last name Ávila. First half American. Second half Portuguese. Just like my life. Totally one, and totally the other. Here, no one

Cry, the Beloved Country
Within hours of the devastating U.S. Supreme Court decision to rescind the constitutional protection of bodily autonomy, we started getting queries. Texts, emails, and Linked

Summertime
I am trying to resurrect my seasonal newsletter. This month’s issue is about summer’s slow ripening, and features a recipe for cherry clafoutis, and thoughts

In search of silence
I have always loved silence. I am an only child who spent a lot of time at home alone. We’ll unpack the “why” of why

a word, please, about kitchens
We need to talk. About kitchens, and my obsession about them as the single most important room in a house. The kitchen is the pulse

ode to screen doors
There are some sounds that snap me back to childhood summers. The music from a passing ice cream truck. The song we used to play