RADICAL
HOSPITALITY
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “The Power Lies with the People.”
Multicultural Sarajevo A melodic chant drowned the raucous sounds of Old Town in Sarajevo. We sat in black wooden chairs facing the chancel in the Serbian Orthodox Museum. A couple crossed themselves in front of holy images. Two women—young, English-speaking,...
Empty and Fill: Seven Days in Chengdu, China
David turned 67 while standing in the wrong immigration and customs line in Chengdu. What we knew about Chengdu, China, would not fill a teacup. We came here because it was unknown to us, and we wanted a place in southwestern China that would be a good stopover on our...
Sri Lanka: Hard and Hopeful Land.
I come from Minnesota. USA, a region of the world where February is so cold, artists create shanties on frozen lakes, and people flock to see their creations. They build ice castles and call it a carnival. People drive trucks onto ponds, dress in five layers,...
Chaos, Order, and the Desire to be Free: Egypt.
"For the ancient Egyptians, the universe was composed of dualities: fertile and barren, life and death, order and chaos." Andrew Humphreys, Cairo and the Nile, Eyewitness Travel. 2009. "A new museum has been built to showcase Egypt's ancient artifacts, yet no...
Letting Wounds Speak. Turkey.
On the waterfront in Kadiköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, in the November afternoon sun, a musician with a man-bun and beard plays on an electrified acoustic guitar. Old men and young women sit with their phones on video, capturing Turkish tunes...
Lilacs in October: A Short Return to Minneapolis, 2024.
In Tom Wolfe’s 1940 autobiographical novel, You Can't Go Home Again, a young white man moves to New York City and then returns to the South, where he no longer feels like he belongs. I was assigned his book in 1975 at Oberlin College when I was a 17-year-old...
Socialiseren in Nederland
Socialisern in Nederland—Socializing in The Netherland On the bicycle trip, the loaded bikes were an entryway for daily conversations with strangers. Aging on the Run—living in different countries every month — finding other people to talk to in meaningful ways has...
Berat, Albania, Opens Windows to the Sky and Doors to the Stranger
Berat— Albania’s oldest city —has 1,000 identically-shaped windows in its Ottoman-era old town and a Byzantine city on top of one of its mountains. The Osum River runs through the town with buildings hugging the slopes. A green ridged range covers its north...
Madrid: A Robust Commons Makes a Good Place to Age.
Getting off the train in Madrid, we followed the crowds into the dark city. Our train companions formed a line for taxis, but we crossed the street and got on the right bus and to the right apartment. Perhaps that does not sound like a big deal to you, but we are...
Aging on the Run: Activist World Travel blog, November 2023-Present
My life partner and I met in Minneapolis in 1982, when we were activists in solidarity with El Salvador. David became a Minneapolis Public School Social Worker, I earned a doctorate, and taught college history. We lived in South Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA,...