Aging on the Run, PTSD and Historical Trauma, Racism, Social Movements, Sustainable Economies
Brussels, like Paris, unfolded as a mash-up of old and new. While Paris was a hard 24 hours, Brussels was an inviting and fun three days. The difference was serendipity, not a true reflection of these two venerable places. This is the problem with short...
Aging on the Run, Nationalism, Racism, Social Movements, Sustainable Economies
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.” 17th Century French Philosopher, Voltaire In France, I acquired impressions. Impressions of Cormeilles, Normandie, France There are...
Aging on the Run, Former Yugoslavia, long term travel, Nationalism, Public History, Sustainable Economies
I began this essay in Montenegro, where people speak a local Serbian dialect, and finished it in Wales, where Welsh is visible on every signpost, yet English is undeniably dominant. Such is the language of empire. Living in countries with idioms foreign to me, I have...
Aging on the Run, Balkans, Public History, Sustainable Economies
“I accepted the story I heard on foreign media: that the [1997] Albanian civil war could be explained not by the collapse of a flawed financial system but by longstanding animosities between ethnic groups… its plan could be disrupted only by outside...
Aging on the Run, Nationalism, Sustainable Economies
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken came to Tirana, Albania. He did not stay long. Not long enough for a state dinner. He would eat in Munich, his next stop. The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama chastised him for this diplomatic slight. While Blinken was in...
Aging on the Run, Balkans, Former Yugoslavia, Nationalism, Sustainable Economies, war and peace
I read To The Lake: A Journey of War and Peace by Kapka Kassabova, about her roots trip circling ancient lakes that border Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece. Kassabova rejects the nationalisms that poison the region while celebrating the magnetism of Lake Ohrid,...
