Today was a difficult day for me, and not because of the ever-present Northern Irish rain that has insisted on following most of my trip here. I am in Derry (also called Londonderry, but more on that in a few moments), the second largest city in Northern Ireland. It is a beautiful town, the best-preserved…
It feels wrong somehow that tourism can come out of violence, fear, pain, and death. And yet, here I am on a traditional Belfast black taxi tour joining dozens of other such vehicles, all filled with visitors like me taking photos of a place that only twenty-five years ago was home to some of the…
It’s been a week (as of writing this) since I got back from Santo Domingo, after an amazing two and a half weeks in what can only be thought of as chaos in paradise. I’m sitting at a local coffee shop in Los Angeles, reflecting on the trip, on what I saw, what I experienced,…
The festival is small, but cute. I am in Newberry Springs, California, about twenty minutes east of Barstow along Interstate 40, on a crisp November morning, joining literally thousands (not at one time) of locals and visitors honoring the little green nut, the pistachio. Here in California’s high desert (high referring to the elevation, significantly…
Walking around Berlin can be a little eerie, especially to a Jewish guy like me. From here, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did their best to exterminate my people. And traces are all over, from historical signage talking about what a building was under the Reich, to memorials, to museums. Despite how much exposure I…
Two children are born on the same day, and live two hundred feet from each other. They speak the same language, and are maybe even related going back a few generations. And yet, these two children will have completely different lives. One will have opportunities the other cannot even dream of. And this is all…
Full Cup Farmstead isn’t exactly what one pictures a farm to look like. Nestled in the mountains of northern California’s Humboldt County, it is the sort of place one would imagine going to hike or camp, not to experience regenerative farming (click here to read more on regenerative farming). Blue skies, green trees, snow on…
The term sustainable has been bandied around for a while now. Everyone wants to be sustainable, to grow and source food sustainably, to build sustainable communities and businesses. But recently, a new buzzword has joined the party: regenerative. To be sustainable is just that, to sustain, to keep as is. It’s a noble pursuit, the…
Where is the dividing line? Where is the dark, thick line that we can use to decide whether a person is/was good or bad? The question fills my head as I wander through the stunning Strentzel-Muir House, the highlight of John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California. Here, the famed naturalist and “Father of…
“Why are you going to Texas?” The question came at me from nearly every quarter when I announced my intention to spend a few days visiting the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Austin perhaps would be understandable. After all, Austin seems to be populated largely by liberal west coast expats. But Dallas? Dallas is “real” Texas. To…