The Giovanna Archives ✸

I'm an essayist—albeit a hobbyist at that, so I'm not-yet-great—, so apologies in advance if  everything I write feels like it yearns to be an essay and everything I say feels like a mind-dump attempt at a spoken one. To simply explain the structure of this e-portfolio, I have categorized my essays into neat-ish common themes, some self-explanatory—what might the page titled “Paraguay” talk about?—and some that feel like they were grouped together by a sleep-deprived teenager going through a fever-dream—story of my life. In short, this is what each grouping is based on:

• Assignments: self-explanatory. These are the writing journal tasks we are periodically sent.

• Paraguay: writings that reflect, almost exclusively, on Paraguay and my national identity. It is worth noting that most of my writing somehow ties back to my country, but this section is exclusively dedicated to the vague idea of ”home”. Some of these, particularly “Vencer o morir”, require some historical context to be understood. This is provided through another essay, “I am tired of hoping”.

• Cultural reflections: these are podcast pieces about culture and things that interest me. Please watch the one titled “Paraguay and Ireland as two sides of the same coin”; it's quite long but it is a totally worth-it conversation amongst Paraguayan immigrants in Ireland.

• Things that keep me awake: now, while I said I will not explain my life story in this project—and I meant it—, this is the closest you get to it. Reflections on my intrusive thoughts, deeply sentimentalist writing and prose poems that read like personal manifestos all lie here. I struggled to name this section because it deals with so many different things that I see as inter-connected yet could seem unrelated to an outside observer, so I settled with this title because the most obvious thing they have in common is that these topics come into the spotlight of my mind spontaneously and will not let me sleep, eat or do anything else until I have transcribed them into paper. Most of my best writing is here, as I express myself best through deeply introspective reflection that links back to other themes. 

Each essay uploaded here is a reflection on a different lesson I learned throughout this first year in Ireland, be it in the traditional, academic way or a more abstract and emotional lesson. Some of them are very private glimpses into my emotional world. I know this is quite unorthodox, but I believe there is a great deal of things to learn about ourselves through analyzing our emotions; they do not define us, but they show us aspects of ourself we often ignore. Beware, though, that these essays are not written for readers to understand who I am as a person, but rather to see the world through my eyes.

If you want to know which one you should read first, it all depends on what you're in the mood for reading at the moment, but I find that the writings on “Things that keep me awake” reflect who I am better than any other pieces I've written—and they are also the ones I am the most proud of! So, if you're ready to dive into my thoughts, go on and explore. I hope you walk away entertained, enlightened, or at the very least, amused by my caffeine-induced sprees of melodrama.