Friends
Tall and dark, their food was spiced differently and they spoke of a place called Yugoslavia that sounded exotic and sad. But it was all just texture for the aunt, uncle, and two… Continue reading
Category Archive: people
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Seeing America as a Sri Lankan cop
Sri Lankan city of kings, one of the oldest continually-occupied cities on Earth, and focal point of Theravada Buddhism for centuries, Anuradhapura has many claims to fame, but I was having trouble seeing… Continue reading
My experience with refugees
Refugees don’t come to America for a handout. They don’t come to take anyone’s job. They come because they are like you and me.
The Dutch woman in Macedonia who helps me with Trump
The Dutch lady was barely paying attention to our conversation. “It’s Bitola, not Bitola” she said, putting the stress on the first syllable instead of the second. BEET-ola. Grateful for the correction, I… Continue reading
Something unexpected and normal happened just now
I was well into my lineup of questions and answers, ordinal numbers and time sequences in class today, blue marker and red marker, hoping my students were getting something out of my antics… Continue reading
Hands Around Lake Merritt
Was election night as bad as it gets, or is the worst still to come? That sick feeling of disappointment, of alienation from your nation, of watching a big part of my demographic… Continue reading
Salvation and interference on a bus into Macedonia
We’d been like followers of some not very popular religions sect, gathering off-hours to worship in someone else’s oversized church. That’s how Thessaloniki’s train station felt during a rail strike, but a few… Continue reading
The Wizard of Oz and I
“When I was a boy, I knew what I wanted to be.” My assumption was beginning when he filled in the answer. “A cowboy!”
Happy Thanksgiving Mr R!
Happy Thanksgiving Mr R! It was a pleasure to meet you a few months ago, and I dearly hope that your first American Thanksgiving is a happy day, when you can join me,… Continue reading
Earthquake in Nepal, inevitable and unexpected, national and personal
Everyone knew an earthquake like this would happen and devastate Nepal. The geography and history made it obvious, inevitable. Who could look at those fault lines and think otherwise? . . During my… Continue reading
