Let’s all welcome Natalie Mulford, our very own International News Columnist! This is her sixth year with TPS and second writing for clay. Although she’s American, Natalie has spent most of her sixteen years overseas with her parents, three younger sisters, and their giant South African Mastiff named Obi. For the past six years she has been in Ethiopia per her dad’s partnership with the NGO World Visions, and has previously lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. With taste buds acclimated to exotic flavors, Natalie esteems Ethiopian food as one of her favorites, though she loves trying any new dish as long as it’s not zucchini or incredibly spicy.
Natalie loves spending time doing basically anything outside, especially swimming and hiking. If she were ever stranded on a deserted island, she believes that after she got over her confused and panicked thoughts she would start flipping through her brain, hurriedly trying to remember all the survival stuff she has learned over the years, and then take stock of the island.
With an enthusiasm for drawing, reading, writing, solving codes, and making ciphers, she is currently undecided about what she wants to pursue after school. Her favorite subject in school is art, though she enjoys English and continuously works on writing her novel. Like many aspiring authors, Natalie finds it hard to settle on just one favorite movie and book; lately she has enjoyed the Graceling Realm series for the thought-out world building, characters, and writing style. Among movies, she loves the film Nimona, admiring the animation, story, and character dynamics. Her go-to place is on the comfy couch in her living room with a good book in hand.
A few random fun facts about Natalie: if she could be an animal for a day, she would choose a bird to see what flying really feels like. Her favorite colors are blue or green, and for a while her hair was in the confused state of being dyed a color in between those; it started out blue and faded to a teal. Given the choice to tell her younger self one thing, she would say, “It’s okay to mess up, just remember to keep your mind open to learning and realizing what you did wrong and how you can do better.” Unlike most, Natalie’s favorite animals are pangolins. Finally, of course, if she could be any ice cream flavor, she would choose bubblegum blue because, in Natalie’s opinion, “It tastes terrible and so hopefully other people wouldn’t want to eat me. Also it would be fun to be blue for a little while.”
Natalie is excited to write and research international news events and bring them to light in the TPS community through her clay articles!
Photo Credit: Natalie Mulford
yay, natalie!!