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Observing Butterflies
Continue ReadingIn Egypt I observed two categories of women. The first I nicknamed penguins; older and generally overweight, they hide their figures so well under dark robes they appear as broad rectangles from behind when silhouetted on the street. They tend to waddle like those arctic animals and are equally anti-social. To the remaining females I […]
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A Group of Spiritual Athletes
Continue ReadingIf you have watched professional athletes stride into an arena before a contest — gear in hand — you will recognize the reference in our headline. They enter using a relaxed yet energized gait, arms and shoulders loose. They ooze confidence that comes from relentless years of training. Elite dancers ramble like that too. These […]
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An Anomaly Below the Mokattam Hills
Continue ReadingOccasionally you come across something which — at least in your own mind — does not belong in the place where you find it, an anomaly. While wandering the Cairo Necropolis, an inhabited complex of tombs and catacombs in the medieval quarter of the city, I noticed this bedraggled poster seeming unusual in a Muslim […]
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Some Dancing Feet
Continue ReadingAlthough not as expressive as the human face, feet in motion can project emotion. In these two cases I think it must be joy in camaraderie; the first more abandoned than the second.
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Entering the Phenomenological Realm
Continue ReadingPhenomenology — an extravagant word meaning the study of how things appear to us in our conscious — or lived — experience. Anger counts as this sort of phenomenon, while believing the sun will rise tomorrow in the East does not. Philosophers are fond of asking questions we might consider tedious, like: “Is there […]
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Mogollon Rim Still Life
Continue ReadingThe Mogollon Rim (pronounced locally: mug-ee-yon) is a high ridge — many miles long — running east and west across Northern Arizona. It is formally called escarpment. Some sections looking south provide views of mountains and timber as far as the human eye can see. Forest roads lead off the Rim into secluded places, […]
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Looking For The Essence
Continue ReadingDuring a change in my life I found work in this isolated place where I had no personal connections. I knew the location from reading a map, but had not investigated the district further. I had not seen my future workplace, and never inspected beforehand the apartment provided to me as part of my compensation. […]
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A Real Gully-Washer
Continue ReadingIt does rain in the desert. This photograph taken outside Phoenix, Arizona is my testimony. On these extraordinary occasions the sky might split wide open; and enough water then falls to form temporary rivers and tiny lakes.
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You’re Definitely Not In Kansas Anymore
Continue ReadingOn your first journey beyond the Western World even routine situations will flummox you. You cannot avoid these gopher holes despite prior study and meticulous planning. If you stay gone long enough — exposing yourself nakedly and with bravery — hard experience will shatter preconceptions, adding a new and more spacious dimension to your character. […]
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