Long before 1980 I had learned, sadly, that the countries my government decided to label as enemies were not necessarily my enemies. Take Vietnam: It was a proxy war fought during the Cold War which was aimed at the USSR. Fast forward to 2000. Vietnam has achieved its “Freedom and Independence” (Ho Chi Minh) after … More Cuba, at Last: Part one
My daughter invited me to visit her for a week in Helena, MT, in mid-February. The purpose was to help her and her husband to convert his rental house into a second Airbnb. It sounded like fun, as it was a particularly boring time in Minneapolis, and I also love designing interior spaces that are … More Unbroken
Many years ago we took our daughter out of public middle school and sent her to a local evangelical Lutheran private school. It was the least expensive of the several private schools in the area and was well-regarded. Seventh grade had been scary year, as middle school years often are. The last straw was when … More Voluntourism Done Right (and Wrong)
Helena is the Capital of the state, but only has 35,000 residents (There are only 1 million in the whole giant state!) As a result it has many of the features of a small western town in the U.S., but also features you would expect in a larger cosmopolitan area. I visit frequently from Minneapolis, … More Ten Things Helena, Montana has that my Hometown Doesn’t
The past few weeks I have been reading historian John M. Barry’s book about the worldwide influenza pandemic of 1918, where an estimated 50-100 million people died over a two year period. This story of massive public health failure is told from the American context. That context was the entry of the U.S. into the … More Public Health Work Requires Cultural Immersion
My Colombian daughter-in-law has been building a lovely traditional two storey house above Medellin in a town called San Pedro de los Milagros. She has been project manager from Minnesota via cell phone while at home with a new baby and a preschooler. Now that she is here for a few months, she is managing a … More Maybe a bike-oriented Airbnb in Colombia?: Part 2
Guest blogger: Lily White, who just spent one month in Argentina. Thanks, sis! Sometime between the 1970s and 80s, hitchhiking fell out of fashion in the USA. Signs began popping-up along the entrance ramps to highways, and stories of dangerous hitchhikers circulated around our small Midwestern town. My mother and Aunt Dorothy cut cautionary articles … More Hay Maté!: The case for picking up hitchhikers in 2019
Growing up in flyover country (Midwest USA), we commonly take a dim view of big coastal cities like New York. We call Minneapolis the MinneApple, which indicates our aspiration for the greatness of the Big Apple, but also our preference for “small town” life (Small Town). Midwesterners often do not want to visit New York … More Small Town in a Big City
In 1965 I spent six months as a college student in the Loire Valley of France, completing my sophomore year and an additional summer quarter. That would later allow me to graduate early in 1967, get a short job at Stanford Research Institute cannulating a colony of monkeys for blood pressure research, and then marry … More A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gallics (smirk)
The music flows like the water through Louisiana–through every river, swamp and bayou. In our two weeks there we went to five music venues. Plus, one of our AirBnB hosts in Lafayette serenaded us with his cajun accordian during his happy hour orientation to Cajun Country. In between we heard nature. I put together a … More Big Muddy Meander: Louisiana Soundscape
Other states, other lives, other souls 