Aging on the Run, long term travel, Nationalism, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Public History, Social Movements
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, where we...
Aging on the Run, long term travel, Nationalism, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Public History, Social Movements, Sustainable Economies
Our plane from Rome to Belgrade, Serbia,, was three hours late. The Serbian government had shut down its airport to rehearse for its upcoming military parade. Despite the ominous delay, I enjoyed the flight. It was a cloudless day. We saw the contours of both Italian...
Aging on the Run, Israel/Palestine, long term travel, Nationalism, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Public History, Sustainable Economies
When we were in Sarajevo, a politician said he wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH ) to be like Switzerland. I thought that was ambitious. In our global Capitalist system, Switzerland is where world leaders solve a “problem” like Bosnia. But he was not...
Aging on the Run, Nationalism, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Public History, Racism, Social Movements, Sustainable Economies
White waves, green water, and black volcanic rock, stirred by high wind. The view was wild, but inside the Jeju coffee shop, all was calm. A Korean ballad played softly. I was alone. My partner in this Aging on the Run venture was grocery shopping, leaving me...
Aging on the Run, long term travel, Nationalism, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Radical Hospitality, Social Movements
November 2024, Istanbul. 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...
Aging on the Run, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Radical Hospitality
I read Tom Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again in the fall of 1975, at Oberlin College, before I dropped out. In the autobiographical novel, a young white man from Asheville moves to New York City and then returns to the South where he feels he no longer belongs....
