Spring Snow in Pau, France

The past year has been without much rhythm, a time of starts and jarring stops, a year a bit here and there and everywhere.  I have only spent six weeks in Pau total since October, four of which I was too sick with a flu and a deep, body-shaking cough to even leave my apartment. […]

Posted by on 14 March 2013 | 7:20 am

Majorly Blinkered Mainstream Media does Mali

Should I still be surprised when journalism doesn’t do the job it’s supposedly meant to do? When articles in the most important newspapers in the world are riddled with massive blind spots, coming off as either shockingly naive or else blatantly misleading to anyone who has done a bit of further reading?  Should I still […]

Posted by on 18 January 2013 | 8:12 am

Bill Clinton and a Dirty Beach: Nostalgia and Denial

I haven’t actually been back to the United States, my home country, in over a year.  But I don’t think it matters how long you stay away – what’s happening in your place of origin continues to matter to you. Especially during an election year. Of course I also happen to be from a country […]

Posted by on 18 September 2012 | 10:56 am

Taken Captive by Spain

Last week I wrote about depressing effects of the overwhelming youth unemployment in Spain.  I wanted to take up some space here now and balance that perspective with a window into the beauty, passion, and grace of Spain –  some glimpses of the landscapes, the architecture, the art and the wonderful people.  Despite the horrible economy […]

Posted by on 28 August 2012 | 5:08 pm

The Indignant Indigent Youth of Spain

Last week we went to the “Semana Grande” Festival in the beautiful Basque city of San Sebastian, along the Atlantic Coast of Spain. We left our car in a parking station under one of the main squares of the city and headed to the nearest exit.  We spiralled up a cement staircase carelessly, wending our way […]

Posted by on 23 August 2012 | 8:51 am

Bitter Fruit

Saturday morning.  It is a sunny, mild day, everything you might demand from early June.  We walk into Les Halles, into the bustling farmers’ market section of the building and the first thing that grabs my attention is a man selling watermelons.  He has about 10 left – the deep green kind, round and reminiscent […]

Posted by on 8 June 2012 | 6:07 am

Ten Rupees

Some years ago… We are in India, driving deep into the state of Karnataka, the Land of Monkeys. I stare out the van window at the strange, lunar landscape, that seems to emerge straight from myth. The hilly horizon, sprinkled with vague green underbrush, effuses faded shades of reddish-browns, and beiges. Tawny boulders, some small, […]

Posted by on 28 March 2012 | 11:54 am

Sensational Zaragoza Street Art

One of the great perks of living in Pau, France, is how close we are to Spain.  In December I spent two days exploring the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza.  I was particularly struck by the wealth of amazing street art and graffiti that lit up what would otherwise have been dark, cold winter streets; […]

Posted by on 20 March 2012 | 6:07 pm

Caracas: Rotten Town

From my journal, written while living in Caracas: September 20th, 2008  Some days I think there is something truly sinister about Caracas.  Maybe just when it’s cloudy.  Maybe I have an overactive imagination.  Today I left my apartment.  I walked down 12 flights of steps to the ground level, and up 4 flights in a […]

Posted by on 1 March 2012 | 5:45 pm

Carnival in Pau, France: The Bear Hunt

Just so you all are warned, this particular carnival event contains prodigious amounts of cross-dressing, gang-humping, and symbolic castration.  The easily offended should look elsewhere… In comparison to other mountain ranges where I’ve spent time – like the Andes, the Himalayas, the US Sierra Nevada, or parts of Alaska, the Pyrenees seem strangely, unnaturally tranquil.  […]

Posted by on 20 February 2012 | 2:52 pm

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