A Chinese Gollum squatting on a concrete stool Savors a secondhand cigarette butt And searches the sacred text of his racing form For a path to redemption. In a nearby meat shop, a bloody-shirted man …
September 1, 2011
Literate
Another Hong Kong Afternoon
Pocatello, Idaho
Pocatello was the end of the line. I needed to get off. I looked around for an exit – a string of fluorescent light cut the darkness and exposed my cover. I didn’t see any …
September 1, 2011
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
The boat ride to Santa Cruz, Guatemala, was cold. The wind blew fervently as the boat hit rough patches, splashing swaths of freezing water on the passengers seated in front. Lake Atitlan is very windy. …
August 24, 2011
Colorado: The Great Divide
We crossed over the continental divide this July and made our way into the mountain hamlet of Keystone, Colorado. I happened to be thinking about people like Oscar Wilde ("I like the West the best") …
August 21, 2011
Buzzing on Starbucks in Rio
Warning: the following may make you feel the full weight of the modern guy/gal's addiction to well-produced, low-cost goods consumed en masse. (Yes, Starbucks.) Our last night of holiday travel, we were in Ipanema and …
July 21, 2011
The Real Cancun, Mexico
“It’s totally safe, man,” said Sergio as he swigged his beer bottle and sucked on a cigarette. “Women walk around at night. Kids play in the streets. No problem.” My friends in Pittsburgh were horrified …
July 12, 2011
An English D-Day Remnant: Devon, England
An unlikely memorial to the D-Day invasion lies half-hidden in a narrow wind-ravaged valley among the sand dunes of Braunton Burrows on the north coast of Devon, England. While the remembrance sites in France have …
May 12, 2011
Finding Magic: Chapada dos Veadeiros, Brazil
When I was a young San Diego grom, long weekenders meant the following: My dad piled me, my brothers and some friends into our VW van and we camped and surfed in San Clemente. Despite …
May 8, 2011
Sendai, Japan: The Day the Earth Shook
March 11 was a cold, slow-moving Friday afternoon at our home in Sendai. As a freelance writer and translator, I was making a transition, familiar on such idle afternoons. Having finished a bit of urgent …
April 7, 2011
Beer-lin, Germany
It is truly easier on the streets of Berlin to buy a bottle of beer than one of water. And no matter what time of day it is, you'll observe someone sipping a cold one, …
April 7, 2011
What Not to Do in Grenoble, France
Grenoble, France, 1968: a sporting and outdoor destination unparalleled around the world. Host city of the Winter Olympics, hub for skiing, alpinism and focal point of a growing scientific industrial center. Fast-forward in time to …