The Castaways on Evening Magazine
My band was featured in a segment about the ukulele on Seattle’s Evening Magazine. Can’t see the video? Try this link.
Pam Mandel
This Boat is Real
Travel writer pro tip: When you think you’re losing perspective on what it means to be a travel writer, pack your younger brother. “Take a good hard look at the motherf*cking boat.” My brother can’t stop singing the Lonely Island song. It’s a parody of rap excess, but for years I’ve interpreted it as an …
Dim Fuzzies and Girl Astronauts
“It’s just physics,” says the girl, and she draws a diagram on the white board to explain the way light refraction works underwater. “There are equations you can do to show how it works, but really… it’s just physics.” She’s Olivia Humes, a junior in high school, confident, serious in her adult haircut, and totally …
Some Things About My Dad
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 …
Post-Modern Medieval
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 …