Of Learning to Pay Attention
I think more about what else in my social life I should see, ask, remember, and do, even when I can do little. Remember F. Scott Fitzgerald: Relationships are the brutality that sustains.
People & Places
Journey to the Crossroads of America and the Hope of Obama Land
Can this controversial, privately funded $850 million center—dismissed by many as a vanity project, architectural folly, and dangerous precedent—really shore up democracy?
A Star Friendship, a Story of the Depth Divers Dive
My mother would have said, “He’s a mess,” but Leon had a punk attitude, loved performative wildness, and was hugely capable. Is it a surprise what came next?
That Spoonful of Sugar….
The old apothecaries were far more efficient, and far kinder, than our streamlined mail order and national chains.
Why I Fly a Tiny Polish Flag
A very strange smile spread across his face. “You must sit with me and have dinner with my wife and me. My wife does not speak English, but you must tell her this story, just as you told me, and I will translate.” He would not explain further.
America 250
Never since that first Fourth of July have we been so divided between wannabe monarchists and republicans. Perhaps what we assumed would be progress has turned out to be a circle.
World Cup Tourists Gushing About the U.S. (Really?)
My poor friend. She sent me this nice article from the BBC about how travelers to the World Cup “are discovering little-known slices of Americana away from the host cities.” The word “triggered” would be apt. I had already seen the social media reels and posts—and in my…
Busload of Faith to Get By
I took a Flix bus to Chicago, determined to be there for the Juneteenth opening of the Obama Presidential Center.
“You took a what?” friends said, bemused that I did not fly, drive, or even take the train. But I love buses. I love the way everybody shows…
Why Dutch Pluralism and Tolerance Need Bragging Rights
What seems to prevail in the Dutch zeitgeist amid current challenges, and contrasted against alarming trends of far-right populism in the United States and across the world, is the lesson that tolerance and pluralism do not sustain themselves. No, tolerance and pluralism must be nurtured and, in some cases, even bragged about.
The Friends of Vintage Flight Visit St. Louis
Friends of Vintage Flight must make strategic decisions when they choose a project, based on the group’s capabilities, the condition of available aircraft, and their historical significance. The Curtiss Robin has a fascinating history as one of the most commercially successful aircraft of the period between the world wars, and began production the year after Lindbergh made the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.