EGYPT– The place that has inspired writers and travelers for centuries– ON A SLEEPER TRAIN. I had sand on my skin, caked with sweat. The brim of an adventure hat had shielded me from the inescapable sun that had now set. I pulled the hat from my head, revealing a sticky nest of hair underneath. […]
Taipei, Taiwan
The place where I almost lost my love for seafood? Taiwan. Also the place where I had some of the most awesome street food ever? Also Taiwan. Surprised to see real curved swords reverently wielded around by old men for daily exercise in the form of martial arts? Yep, you guessed the place. Taiwan. Taipei […]
NOT IRAQ, KURDISTAN (PART 2): The Peshmerga, Yazidis, Saddam’s Palace Ruins, and the City in the Sky
If you haven’t read Part 1 of this story, I would suggest starting there. Disclaimer: this story isn’t full of the cute narrative misadventures that I typically do. But nevertheless I was sure that there was a story here, somewhere buried beneath the facts, a considerably more important one. Some names have been altered to […]
Dwam, Reverie in the Scottish Highlands
I had hoped yet hadn’t intended to visit The Highlands, but– there I was. I was at the bottom of a brown valley with waterfalls as far as the eye could see– more than thirty! I’d counted. Their tails cascaded down the slopes, digging thin trenches beneath them. Each ribbon traveled inward to this middle […]
Not Iraq, Kurdistan (Part 1): Preserving the Cultural Identity, Millennia Old History, and Natural Beauty of Disputed Kurdistan
This article was originally posted in The Mountain- Ear Newspaper, Nederland Colorado. The author lays claim to all original intellectual property here in thereof. Nomads Who Want A Home Our preconceived expectations of what northern Iraq might have been like couldn’t have been more wrong. Kurdistan, one of the most controversial “countries” in the world, […]
My Experience at Auschwitz Concentration Camp: An Evil Like No Other
To be honest, I had initial hesitancy about publishing this post. This experience haunted me–so much so– that I was hesitant to even publish an online article about my experience. How could words even begin to express such atrocity, such evil, such hate? How could I ever verbalize my disgust and astonishment about what I […]
Building the American Dream Part 1: Why I Loved BOSTON
Ah, Boston. The rebel born child of independence. The strong firstborn that once raised it’s fist to it’s hated colonialist parents. It’s the city that wore a scowling “screw you” on it’s face while it turned it’s back on everything safe and familiar that it once knew. It’s a place built on leadership; a place […]