Man Wasn’t Meant to Fly…But With This Plane…He Is
Denny Reed is an airtrekker. He takes people out in his ultra light aircraft and hops from one scenic place to another, sometimes swooping down as low as six feet from the ground. We flew with him tonight from atop the 2700 foot high Prosser Butte. All around us are […]
Ready. Set. Fly to Spokane! What Did I Forget?
To anyone who has taken a press trip, you know that moment when your flight is bearing down on you, and you’re making your last minute checks and worrying about what you might have forgotten. This morning I”ll fly to Spokane to begin what is being billed as a Mancation. […]
Sassy, Brassy and Classy: Unit 7 a Green River Fest Favorite
As Jim Olsen announced from up on stage around 6:45 tonight, the twenty-fourth Green River Festival is in the books. It was a splendid assortment of music, and the hot sun and familiar faces made it all pretty darn all right. But if I were on the committee organizing the […]
We Wish the Guy Who Knew the Words Was There
It’s already a blazing day and only 8:30 am as I sit typing in a very cool cafe by the Delaware River in Lambertville, NJ. My niece is the manager here, and I’m meeting my sister and my cousin for some sort of work out. Not sure exactly what she […]
You Want Cake? Really? I Don’t Want Cake
In a recent WSJ, there was a tantalizing headline: Eating to Live, or Living to Eat? The story explained how there are two reactions to a delicious slice of chocolate cake being set before you. One is, well, of course, get outta the way, here I come with my fork […]
The US Pays $100M to Fix Hydro Plant; Funding the Taliban
Everything is more complicated than it appears in Afghanistan. I learned about this reading last night’s WSJ, where a story by Yaroslav Trofimov detailed that a newly rebuilt power plant courtesy of the United States is actually providing money for the Taliban…the people we are fighting! It’s a $100 million […]
The World Cup 2010, By the Numbers
As a fact-filled follow up to my World Cup post, I present some statistics about viewership that I think back my point of how far soccer has to go before it is widely accepted in the US. Despite Shoul’s insistence that a big crowd in a small Mexican restaurant in […]
Orange-vested Men in Port Authority Yell and Joke
It’s good to be back in the humid pea soup of a Western Mass. July. Of course, I step back in and all hits the fan, but I am confident we can fix the problems and get it all cooled off again. It’s an exciting time, we’re hiring at the […]
World Cup Final Won’t Help Make Americans Care about the Sport
Outside of the Hilton on each corner of the street, yell0w-jacket cops were stationed last night, as if anticipating a surge in riots because of the World Cup. But the meek, penalty-filled game provided few thrills, it was a shoving match with just one goal. Sigh. Now I am convinced […]
Manchester’s Canals Now a Backdrop for Cafe Life
Right near where this gigantic ferris wheel is now, a bomb was planted by IRA terrorists in 1996. The bomb was 3000 pounds, and the destruction included an entire Marks and Spencer department store plus city blocks far from the epicenter. It was a horrible amount of destruction that surprisingly […]
Rolling on Rails through the English Countryside
Reflections while rolling through the English countryside toward Newscastle en route to Manchester England.
An Assorted Cast of Characters On the Trip in Northern England
On every press trip, you settle into the ‘press trip groove,’ getting used to all of this packing, moving, and note-taking, and finding out enough about your fellow journos so you know where you want to sit at dinner and a little bit about each person who is traveling with […]
Newcastle’s Seven Bridges Spanning the River Tyne
Everywhere in England are signs directing World Cup viewers to come and “join us for the game!” It’s like the Superbowl, but in this case, it’s way, way more important–as if the big game didn’t come every January, but instead just every four years. There is definitely some handwringing over […]
Mark Graham Was the First to Chase Ghosts Here
York is a city with a violent past. We joined a popular pastime tonight….strolling the city following an actor who recounts tales of savagry by citizens of York to other citizens of York. He wears black, jacket pants, shoes and gloves. And he tells tales with…just..the right…timing and punch, scary […]
In York, a Mystery: Why 37 Headless Bodies?
The city of York is a magnet for both British tourists and travelers from around the world. It’s just about as pretty as everyone said it was; encircled by a Roman-built wall and dominated by the massive York Minster, an oversized cathedral. Guide Mark Graham told us that archeologists have […]