Entrepreneurs in Journalism Give their Elevator Pitches
The class is called Entrepreneurs in Journalism. The requirement of the class at UMass is that everyone in the room has to have a dream. An idea that they want to turn into something big. They meet on the 7th floor of the big UMass library at an early hour. […]
Crossing Into Egypt from Sudan; Dan Morrison Studies the Contrast
Dan Morrison’s The Black Nile tells the story of a man who takes an epic journey. He begins in Uganda and follows the route of the mighty Nile river all the way up, through Sudan and finally to its end, in Alexandria Egypt. The book delves into the politics that […]
The Whately Diner Burns and In the 978 Area Code, I Didn’t Even Know
I’ve spent a wonderful weekend in the 978 area code, a land called Wendell where cell phones do not function and so, I’m detached from the details of the people in my life. I casually emailed my son, asking him if he’d like to join me at the gym, a […]
How Many Cloves of Raw Garlic Can You Eat?
Twelve hardy souls began the contest, but after only four cloves, most dropped to the side. That left only the hardest of the hard-core garlic eaters left in the annual contest at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival in rainy Orange today. Eyes tearing, up, they chomped down clove […]
Daniel Butler, Mushroom Man, and Bon Vivant
Driving along a country road near a large shimmering reservoir, Daniel Butler suddenly slows down. He jumps out of the driver’s seat and whips out a special knife. In seconds he’s dug up a beautiful specimen, a four-inch cepe. He’s a mushroom forager, par excellence, and yesterday he took us […]
All Across Wales, People are Thinking Green
Wow. Wales is a place I never thought would be so wonderful, so pretty, so green and so…inviting! It’s not on most American’s radar, the place just doesn’t pop up on most traveler’s ‘places to go’ lists. But now that I’ve spent time driving the length of the place and […]
Menai Oysters: Harvested by Hand from Pristine Waters
Shaun Krijnen was wearing rubber boots and rubber overalls when we met him. Still, he had that tossled look of a movie star millionaire, and even though was worried about how he looked in front of the visiting journalists, he struck quite a pose in that late afternoon light in […]
What Can You Do with a Swimming Pool of Seawater a Day?
Ferran Adrià of elbulli, once known as the world’s most famous restaurant, uses a tiny flake of a certain salt to dab on his oysters. The Queen of England and her son William have been known to also use this special salt at events as important at May’s royal wedding. […]
At Nant Gwrtheyrn, Wales, We Sleep in the Former Village of the Quarry
After a flight made much more pleasant by a serendipitous upgrade to business class, which gave me a night’s sleep on a flat bed, I’ve spent the day here in Wales. I have given up trying to actually pronounce the names of the places I’ve seen. We are staying in […]
My Broken Suitcase Just Won’t Due for a Trip to Wales Tonight
Tonight I’ll board a 777 and fly to Manchester England, where tomorrow morning I’ll join several other travel bloggers and begin a trip through Wales. I haven’t ever been there before and the focus of the journey is a culinary one. So we will meet chefs, taste many different foods […]
CicLAvia: Los Angeles will Close 10 Miles of Streets–and Celebrate
Los Angeles will celebrate on October 9 by shutting down ten miles or normally congested streets. Why? To turn all of this inner city space into a car-free, safe, family-friendly place for exploring the city from a new perspective and at a leisurely pace. No cars, just bikes, sneakers, stilts, […]
A Night at Deja Brew in Wendell: A Wonderful Village Where People Belong
I wound my way up North Leverett road last night, my destination was Wendell Depot, where I met a new date at the Deja Brew Pub and Cafe. The small pub consists of a narrow bar area with booths and a more spacious back room. The bands set up in […]
Battle of the Dating Sites: Match vs OkCupid
Now that I’ve been officially single for five months, I have learned a bit about the ins and outs of a few popular dating sites. Below is some of what I learned. The first thing is, there are two main choices for those who are interested in finding dates online. […]
Studying Gravestones and the Lives they Depict
The first gravestones in New England were simple rectangles. Then in the 1720s, death’s head began to be featured on the tops of the stones. The figures would usually be graced with lines, as if they were ascending up into heaven. Forty years later, the motif du jour was winged […]
There are Two Sports In Texas: Football and Spring Football
One of the first things I learned from my Texas-born host during my visit was that here in Texas, there are two sports that matter– Football, and spring football. The Dallas Cowboys are revered, and yet nobody expects anything less than a final Superbowl victory, every year. No second place, […]
Things You Can Find in Texas that We Don’t Have in Mass.
Texas is bigger and badder than my creaky little old state of Massachusetts. Here are just some of the things that I found down here in Plano that I’ve never seen in the Bay State. Well, at least not in the Happy Valley. * Mega churches: We passed a gigantic […]
Balloons in Plano Are Grounded by Winds, Yet the Glow Goes On
“One, Two, Three, Four, Five…BURN!” shouted the radio DJ, and all of sudden the skyline was illuminated with the fiery glow of a dozen hot air balloons aglow in the Texas sky. The crowd up on the hill crackled with camera flashes, cheers went up, and as each balloon randomly […]
Seasons 52 in Plano: Counting Calories Deliciously
I’m up at the crack of madness this morning, since the goal is to catch the sunrise from aloft in a hot air balloon. Yesterday I flew here to Plano, Texas, and saw that the ground was mostly brown from the window of the packed plane. After just a few […]