Category: Uncategorized

When you grow up with a disabled parent, you tend to develop a certain degree of patience. At age 17, my father, Walter, contracted polio. Although he was one of the lucky ones to survive the illness, he spent much of his adult his life battling PPS or “Post-polio syndrome” – a gradual breakdown of […]

“Dave, on our way to Portland, I’d like to scatter my mother’s ashes on the Shakespeare stage in Ashland” “You what, Michelle?” “You heard me. My mom adored Shakespeare. I’d like to scatter her ashes at a place she loved.” I first visited the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) back in my 20s. As an English […]

Minutes after arriving in Japan, pretty much the second you leave customs at the airport, you’re likely to encounter your first vending machine, or “jihanki.” A combination of “自販 (jihan)” meaning “self-selling” and “機 (ki)” meaning “machine,” jihankis are everywhere! My question is: why?!! Why are there so darn many vending machines in Japan? And […]

In the early 17th Century, Miguel de Cervantes wrote a Spanish novel called “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,” otherwise known simply as “Don Quixote.” Literary scholars generally agree the book is one of the founding works of Western Literature – perhaps the first modern novel. A unique blend of humor, tragedy, and […]

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Sainte Chapelle, a compact, tiny-house-of-a-church hidden in the heart of Paris. What struck me while visiting it was its intimate approach to worship. At Sainte Chapelle, you can imagine your god sitting right next to you, sipping a cup of tea, bathed in warm, tinted light streaming down […]

I’m not someone who thinks much about where my pleasures come from. Take my morning cup of tea. After boiling water in a kettle, I reach into the pantry and choose from a box of either Earl Grey or Rooibos Chai, drop a tea bag in my favorite mug, and dowse it with hot water. […]

As a tourist, I do my research. Consulting a guide book before I arrive in a city, I decide on my top-five sights to visit and chart them out on a map. Whatever happens, I’m going to make sure I visit those five locations because I’m a man on a mission! Next I identify my […]

It’s hard not to feel conflicted about zoos. On the one hand, how great is it to get up close to our amazing animal friends, many of which are nearing extinction? The best zoos offer a vital conservation and rehabilitation service, keeping animals safe from poachers and other human/environmental threats. On the other hand, doesn’t […]

Although I’ve never considered myself an adrenaline junkie, I have certainly done some adventurous things in my life. Climbing Mt. Fuji. Trekking the Himalayas. Walking in the Costa Rican rainforest. Etc. At the time, my adventures never felt particularly “dangerous;” they were just fun things to do while visiting the host country. Heck, the guidebook […]

Wow Place #304: Freedom Trail, Boston Visit most any European city and you’re bound to stumble upon its “old town” – a small, central area with plaques, statues, hundreds-of-years-old buildings and cobblestone streets. You have to give credit to the community planners in these towns who made a conscious effort to preserve the rich history […]