I’m not sure about the date on this photo — my Dad served in Korea and he’s in uniform here. The signs are in English, so he must be flying outbound. It might be the early 50s, he’d have been maybe 21 years old at the time.
Forgotten, but Not Gone: I wrote this after seeing my Dad for the last time in December 2011. He died in December 2012. This is my first Father’s Day without him.
Waning Moon, Waikiki: Losing my Dad was… complicated. I did not go to the funeral.
A Eulogy for my Dad: My brother read this at my Dad’s service, I was so pleased when he asked if he could do so.
My favorite recent memory of my Dad is watching him dance at my little brother’s wedding. This was outside DC — the wedding attendees were a mix of DC white color wonks, the crunchy West Coast siblings, and wait, where did those dressed to the nines black friends come from? The Houston friends, maybe? I don’t remember.
But I do remember watching my Dad, every bit the picture of an old Jewish man by this time, in his dark suit and his yarmulke, dance with an absolute brick house of a black woman in stacked heels and cornrows with beads and it was a glorious thing to see indeed.
Things we like about our new ‘hood:
- Than Brothers Pho. Cheap, fast, and yummy.
- C and P Coffee, again, where we sit right now, this minute. I showed up yesterday and forgot my wallet so I couldn’t buy anything. Did they throw me out? No, they did not.
- Kokoras Greek Grill. Not far from our place. Tiny and wow, totally hopping on a Tuesday night. Deeelish.
- Our friendly new neighbors. Hello, we are happy to meet you!
The historic main square in Frankfurt is a pretty cobbled place. There are buildings on three sides with black or red timbered faces. There are cast iron sign brackets and from them hang attractive shields emblazoned with the names of traditional German restaurants, the wine cellar, the Black Star, the Stone House. City hall is here and newly married couple after couple appear in front of the traditional ornate facade with their happy families and friends.… continued…
Here’s the truth: I attended only two sessions at TBEX this year: writer Mike Sowden’s storytelling talk and the live recording of Gary Arndt, Jen Leo, and Chris Christensen’s This Week in Travel featuring Spud Hilton, the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle as the guest. I regret missing two talks, Lola Akinamade’s photography talk (Lola recently signed with National Geographic) and Erik Lindbergh’s keynote, but my regrets are pretty minimal, less so since catching up with Lola in the Toronto airport on Monday morning at daybreak.… continued…
I’m lucky to be connected to some great writers and they’ve agreed to share their advice with the folks who attended the writing workshop at TBEX 13 in Toronto. Download it here and believe it, every word of it is true and useful and will make you better at what you do.
And if some of these links take you places that haven’t been updated for a while, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s because they’re not writing.… continued…
In preparation for TBEX 2013 (the Travelblog Exchange conference in Toronto, Canada) I’ve been rereading some things I wrote about blogging and the state of travel writing online. I’ve compiled that stuff here — all vanity links, all inside baseball – so if you’re curious about where I stand, this collection of essays pretty much spells it out.
Stubbornly Clinging to the Organic Web
I want more readers. I see this as fundamentally different than traffic.
