In 2007, David Zoby went on an academic tour of Syria. He admits he was kind of a fraud, but he went anyway.
Pam Mandel
Posted inEditor's Pick
Where Are The Romanovs’ Missing Fabergé Easter Eggs?
Allison Mc Nearny seeks out the history of these glorious Easter gifts.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Some Vague Stars to the South
“Bakers, Grand Mufti, Bashar al-Assad, Epictetus, Rumi, butchers, lecture halls, Syrians, Battle of Kadesh, Damascus, calf brains, strawberry shisha, goblet drums, lovemaking, Christian Quarter, Qur’an, Bedouin encampments, tiny backpacks & Islam.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Quotes, Travel, Writing
Choosing Mother India
“People insist that only an idiot would move from the land of the dollar to the 68-times-weaker rupee.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Quotes, Writing
Yevgeny Yevtushenko: The Siberian Cowboy Poet
“It makes sense that a person would come from another culture and do their poems, because everybody at Elko thinks they’re from another culture.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Blog Post, Guest Pick
Circus, Interrupted: Watching an Accident at Cirque du Soleil
Circus work can be punishing, and for the performers of Cirque de Soleil, extreme safety measures don’t always prevent fatalities.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Quotes
Empathy, Schmempathy.
“Stronger Together,” the Clinton-campaign slogan, sounded more like an invitation to join a food co-op than a call to arms.
Posted inArts & Culture, Essays & Criticism, History
Godwin’s Law, Trump’s Era
“When we use Nazi imagery to describe Trump, nuance is lost.”
Posted inBlog Post, Quotes, Travel
‘We Love Europa But Europa No Love Us.’
“We just want a normal life. We are here for survival.”
Posted inBlog Post, Current Events
Death in the Desert
“The number of migrants crossing illegally from Mexico to the U.S. has declined dramatically. Yet the rugged borderlands of southern Arizona have become a death zone.”