In 1973 Erica Jong wrote the feminist anthem, Fear Of Flying. The heroine, Isadora, though terrified of flying, boards a plane and her subsequent journey leads to a spiritual and sexual awakening that was the one of the first of its kind in print. Jong’s thesis is that the fear of flying is the fear [...]
As a gun-crime survivor who now lives in Europe, until there are better gun control laws in the USA then every American city would be a stressful place in which to live. Not to mention the general lack of public transportation. Here I don’t have to worry about someone shoving a gun in my face [...]
My introduction to Ethiopia and its cuisine was in a Rastafarianism, Reggae, and the African Diaspora course I took in university. What struck me the most was learning that Ethiopia had never been colonized, and is one of the few African nations never to have been. Not for lack of trying, mind you. The Italians [...]
Five years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I met an amazing Californian Phillipina woman and we became fast friends, seeing in each other kindred spirits. Interestingly enough, it was the same year I met Paolo Coelho who told me: “Always keep your heart open; it will bleed, but it will heal.” [...]
I always thought that the airlines that offered a personal TV for each seat were the super-duper fancy airlines that only the wealthy could afford. Imagine my surprise at Christmastime to discover that Emirates Airlines has a personal TV built into every single seat in their airplanes! Wow! You get to choose what movies you [...]
you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone is the gift that keeps on giving.
when i lived in france with my parents, backdropped with the jura mountains all fresh air, trees and snow, i enjoyed every moment of it because something told me it would be a long time before i got to live [...]
it’s good that aside from tommy i may have a new friend here in istanbul, a person not a cat. of course, she would be the one person that none of the other ditzy english teachers like because she is older and far more worldly than them. we connected over the stray cats and now [...]
so many days have passed since i have been able to write. our internet connection is shaky at best and i am trying my luck to post this.
yesterday, i had my first physical contact with Tommy, the stray cat who adopted us and is now a part of our family. he is the sweetest little [...]
we went to see ‘the illusionist’ today. wow. just, wow. go see it!
i love watching movies in their original language. there was just not enough of this in spain and here it is more common than not that films in the theatre are in their original version. blessed be the Cinema Gods.
after many days of [...]
friday is sunday in muslim countries. it is the holy day, mosque day, but in istanbul, unlike more radical muslim countries, life goes on more or less as usual. there is just no work. it is very quiet and the workers in the lot in front are off today. how nice! fridays are such a [...]
when i saw ‘the elephant man’ i felt i was him somehow. someone who never quite seems to fit in with the sea of people around him and someone who is always obvious no matter what he does to hide the fact. today after going to see a wonderful doctor who diagnosed my Middle Ear [...]
after quite a grueling two days in madrid in which my ear infection compounded by a hundred after the freezing cold ride on the granada-madrid bus, we have made it to istanbul. madrid would have been a nice layover if i had not been so wretchedly ill, but we did get to see two very [...]
that things were not quite so bad before until we enter into an even worse situation, or go deeper into an existing one.
drunk people are not wise no matter how much they think they are. they only get more glassy eyed, they slur their words and don’t remember the simple things you just spent hours [...]
i have had my msypace location changed to istanbul for all of an hour (if even that) and it would seem that is enough time for internet perverts from istanbul to begin emailing me to a)ask me to email them privately, b)meet in istanbul somewhere, c)in turkish as if i am turkish just because i [...]
Confronting Cholera: My Zimbabwe Diary
Dear Emile,
This is a beautifully written piece about your experience in Zimbabwe. I love that you’ve gotten involved with Oxfam, an organisation in which Chris McCandless believed so much; he would have been so happy that he inspired you to get involved. But I also appreciate your candor describing not only the Zimbabwe that you [...]
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