Departure gates
Does anyone sleep well, the night before a trip? Even after a few of them, not me. Then startle awake with the thought of “okay, the day is here.” Those other ones were… Continue reading
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Two days away
My next tour starts in two days, and I know what the hardest part will be. A tour is an odd blend of likelihood and happenstance, earned probability and inevitable surprises. Will we… Continue reading
What are you going to do now, Paris?
Standing in front of Notre Dame Cathedral I had a lot of answers. 12-14th century, Judean Kings, and here are 10 things you can do tonight. Another 21-day tour almost finished, I was… Continue reading
Five years
She avoided eye contact when she said it, kind of a “oh ho hum just offhand thinking maybe you could…” sort of thing. But when she said it, I wanted to hug the… Continue reading
Reassured in Dharamsala
When a Buddhist monk in Myanmar sprawled out over several seats in the train, or one on the bus in Malaysia blasted a radio no one else wanted to hear, or a third… Continue reading
I’ve been funding genocide
This is not a happy post. It won’t make you feel good. Fair warning. If you have a mutual fund, you probably get proxy voting notices too. They want you to “vote”… Continue reading
Scared to go to Turkey
The walls were solid and strong, despite the detritus of old neglect in the corners, the spray painted confusion, and the sense of old cigarettes. And everywhere, the kind of shadows you’re supposed… Continue reading
Time in the desert
The tyrannical obstinacy of Time drives me crazy. The way it refuses to heed the beseeching of the heart or the epiphanies of the mind, only drums forward with the dictatorial egotism of… Continue reading
Would you rather…feel good?
The playground game was simple. Ask “Would you rather…” followed by two options, probably one that’s physically unlikely and one that’s gastronomically inadvisable. Both options were reliably horrendous. It was a “choose your… Continue reading
How do we talk about this?
The woman had clearly had enough. She scanned our groceries with aggressive speed, and manifested stunning levels of boredom, irritation, and scorn when it came time to pronounce our total. In the parlance… Continue reading
