If you take the interstate across southern Pennsylvania, you miss the chance to stop for a loaf of bread at the Wild Goose Grocery in Intercourse; you probably won’t see the Amish farmer outside the small burg of Bird-in-the-Hand standing on his wooden disk plow, pulled by stout, tawny horses, six abreast; or the 10 [...]
Margie Patlak, in her book about Down East, More Than Meets the Eye, writes: “To be grateful for the opportunity to walk on this earth and be mesmerized by all its ephemeral wonders and mysteries: the thin ribbon of fog suspended in midair; the glittery dance of wind and light on the water; the intricate [...]
Wisdom Road is staying in America, but I secured an invitation to visit the First Nation community at Kitigan Zibi, about 100 miles north of Ottawa. It is way out of the way, but I decided to visit to make a point. National borders are ephemeral lines on a map, drawn by the most recent [...]
As we get ready for the new school year, I want to share this with you in case you did not see it at the beginning of summer. I won't re-state my argument here; just click through to this article that I published in June via Next Gen Learning Challenge. The big question that I [...]
Phyllis Harris was born and raised in Cleveland, the daughter of a single mom who worked at a factory as she was growing up. She realized “at an early age that I was different”, and came out as a lesbian when she was 19 years old. She is the Executive Director of the LGBT Community [...]
Infectious passion at the intersection of redemption, hope, pride, and great food radiates off of Brandon Chrostowski like heat from the embers of a well-banked camp fire. In 2007 Brandon founded a culinary institute, and in 2013 added Edwins, a high end French restaurant in a downtrodden section of Cleveland with the unlikely business plan [...]
Living in a natural world, you have to be honest. There's no place for contrived illusions. In June of a normal year, the Merced River flows out of Yosemite Valley in an impressive, but well-behaved tumble of white water, over and through the jumble of granite boulders left behind when the glaciers receded after carving [...]
A key takeaway from Wisdom Road is not a surprise: America has seen a dramatic loss of civil discourse in the last decade. The skills and practice of civility itself have become endangered by a toxic stew of political, social, and opinion-masquerading-as-news media. I believe that the very foundations of our democratic society are rooted [...]
I hit the trifecta to end Leg 2 of Wisdom Road. First, incredible blues at Red's Blues Club in Clarksdale, MS. The band starts in slowly, but by the third number they are hitting pile driver blues with a beat that thumps your chest and makes your foot rock heel to toe like no other [...]
So many great people and interviews; too much to synthesize and post thoughtully, so just a few great quotes from the last two days in southern Louisiana: From Darrell Bourque, former Poet Laureate of Louisiana, and current poet/writer: "I was at Northside High School in Lafayette when they first integrated in 1967. Their idea of [...]
