If you recently saw a picture of a middle finger wielded with a monument of institutional power in the backdrop, it is probably the hand of Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist, political dissident, and affable human rights agitator. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) just concluded its 20th party congress and has backed Xi Jinping for an unprecedented third term in office. To put it lightly, the Chinese government does not look kindly at political dissent and criticism. Despite the dangers, Mr. Weiwei has been committed to revealing the screwups, hypocrisy, human rights abuses, and moral hazard of Chinese authoritarianism. His efforts culminated in over 50 interrogations and some 81 days in a Chinese prison. The middle finger is a universal symbol of contempt, and indeed the conduct of the Chinese government (and its American corporate collaborators) on human rights is contemptible. Consider the lives of the Uighur ethnic minority living in the western Chinese province of Xingjian. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, over 11 million Uighurs live in Xingjian, with some one million being unlawfully detained in “reeducation” facilities or mass-internment camps. To see what this ethnic minority endures, check out the extraordinary work of the Frontline journalistic […]
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The Bunker Hill Monument by Specterras on Sketchfab We humans, tend to embellish, exaggerate, and even conjure up stories out of whole cloth. Trusting an autobiography, a CV, or tales of former glory on the football field or classroom is a bit naive. Legends are often the result of embellishments. To use a contemporary example, Kim Jon Un is allegedly able to control the weather, cure diseases, and according to the Korean Central News Agency, “reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom.” His father, Kim Jong Il, a man of numerous talents, was reported to have concluded his first 18-hole championship golf course with a staggering 11 holes-in-one and a record-setting 38 under par. He was also reported not having the bodily need to pee and poop. I always get a good chuckle from propaganda. Still, it speaks to what can happen (in an extreme scenario) if a society does not have mechanisms to account for what is true, even if the truth is inconvenient, uncomfortable, even dangerous. Dave Chappelle’s Instincts about the Past Much of history as we understand it is a collection of stories, some accurate and anodyne, some laughably […]
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Shark diving has always appealed to me, partly because they’re such charismatic creatures and because of their size, grace, evolutionary success, ability to instill fear in humans, and role as custodians of the deep. They are a physical manifestation of the beauty and the perils of the waters that cover two-thirds of our planet. What else would have millions of Americans of both sides of the political aisle glued to TV screens every July. I am referring to Discovery’s shark week. Puerto Rico is not renowned for its shark diving, but there is a site on the southern part of the island (off a small town called Guanica) with a healthy population of Caribbean Reef Sharks. But this isn’t a story about reef sharks; it is a story of Murphy’s Law, that is, what can go wrong, will go wrong. And what the dive community and PADI can learn from Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto. But before I get into that, I have to tell you a story of my recent Puerto Rican dive trip and how quickly things can go from bad to worse. Diving Off The Port of Guanica We set off for Guanica after a late night at […]
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“In Patagonia, the isolation makes it easy to exaggerate the person you are: the drinker drinks; the devout prays; the lonely grows lonelier, sometimes fatally.” Bruce Chatwin, mystagogue of punchy travel writing, had a life-long interest in this remote end-of-the-world peninsular landmass. His fascination started as a young public school pom. Chatwin’s grandmother had a curiosities cabinet containing a leathery chunk of “brontosaurus hide”, allegedly from Argentina. Though an apocryphal story, this artifact aroused a firey fascination with the remote South American peninsula, climaxing in Charwin’s seminal work, In Patagonia. The experience of hiking Patagonia El Chalten, a frontier town tethered to the edge of Los Glaciares National Park, is the best access point for trekking in Argentine Patagonia. While the A-frame houses cling to the earth like their similarly-shaped geological parents, the Andes range; modern conveniences, like wifi, international cellular service, and a diverse array of eateries, dilute some of the heaviness that makes the drinker want to drink and the restless wish to wander. It is the type of environment where one feels inclined to keep on moving. Incidentally, I haven’t tacked on more mileage in one month than my time in Patagonia. Part of that was the […]
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Horseshoe Bend is a charismatic (and very symmetrical) oxbow bend in the Colorado River that begs the viewer’s instant attention. For that reason, the area isn’t normally explored by the day-tripping voyager. It is not uncommon to see throngs of photographers confined to a space smaller than the McCarran International Airport smoking lounge. If you do go there, remember as beautiful and distinct as that serpentine form is, you won’t be the first to notice it and not the last to photograph it. For that reason, I highly recommend wandering from the main lookout and finding one of the numerous perches towering over the Colorado River that have not been photographed into oblivion.
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This area is not unlike St. John’s Wood, that is, the quant leafy location on the iconic Abbey Road Beatle’s album cover. Taken opposite the Boston Common during a BLM protest, the sizable police and military contingent cordoned off a commercial area in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood. To my back is the Boston Common, a location initially used for colonial livestock fodder. St. John’s Wood is also renowned for its sweeping green spaces, including, but not limited to, Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill. Of course, Beacon Hill, also to my back, is a historical neighborhood where many of Boston’s power brokers live and circulate (the state capital building, the Massachusetts seat of power, sits atop the hill like a golden bulwark). Similarly, Primrose Hill is the watering hole for London’s minted elites. Rihanna sold her stucco villa on St. John’s Park in September for a cool £32 million. At 6,332 square feet, that’s about $7,000 per square foot, admittedly more expensive than anywhere in Boston. As the global pandemic ebbs, it will be interesting to see where the real estate tides will take humanity, but what is increasingly certain is that the rapidly changing climate will have some cascading […]
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The Grand Canyon in Australia’s Blue Mountains is not necessarily “grand” in the US sense of the word, that is, it isn’t ginormous. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in unadulterated lush beauty. Enjoy the panorama, and happy bushwalking!
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Ted Cruz’s latest trip to the Yucatan provoked a bit of nostalgia in me. It was not for good governance or common sense (nostalgia, of course, suggests a longing for something past), but for a Yucatan, I had the good fortune to encounter on very different terms than the two prevailing Cancun vacation categories. The sedate beach holiday (al la Ted Cruz absconding during an unprecedented ecological catastrophe) being one and the Jose Cuervo-fueled “Senor Frogs” spring-break bender that many Americans have experienced as a sort of heady coming-of-age difficult-to-recall foamy romp. Yucatan has much more to offer than just a beach Unfortunately, the many treasures contained in this ecological and cultural wonder are often relegated by the “beach vacation” or “spring break” itinerary (partly as a result of its proximity to the continental US and its relatively low cost). I was in the Yucatan for about three weeks several years back. It was my first time visiting our southern neighbor, and it left an impression far removed from the plasticity of the MTV Spring Break showcase that was all the rage in the 90s. There were essential pop-culture landmarks during this didn’t-age-so-gracefully-over-time musical showcase (e.g., Notorious […]
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In 2017, Thomas Freedman hosted a National Geographic mini-series entitled Out of Africa. Not to be confused with the captivating Robert Redford and Meryl Streep starring romantic epic directed by Sydney Pollack. In the opening sequence, Freedman travels to a trading post in Agadez, Niger, where millions of Africans coalesce for the risky and costly journey to the European continent. Citing swelling migration numbers to the European continent, Freedman poses the question, “How much of this massive human migration is being pushed by climate change?” As you watch Freedman’s series, the interviews tell an increasingly familiar tale: the desertification of communities bordering the Sahara. Desertification is a natural phenomenon, but one that is being supercharged by climate change. That desertification makes previously arable land completely unfarmable, hence, the climate refugee issue. Cala Marioulu The above image is of the picturesque Gulf of Orosei. Cala Marioulu (the featured beachscape), while remote and seemingly insulated from the world’s woes, is part of Sardinia, a central transit point for many African climate migrants. It also happens to be the location of one of my favorite Monty Python sketches: the Olympic final of the men’s hide-and-seek. Incidentally, it was harder for them […]
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This is the village of Dozza, a small but remarkable town in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Dozza hosts a biannual art festival, called the Muro Dipinto, inviting muralists from the far reaches of the world to adorn the stucco walls of this medieval enclave. Murals are almost necessarily public-facing, and as a result, often take on more spiritual and/or political themes. Murals and frescos have long been a source of Italian national pride, historical tradition, and technological innovation. In the 14th century, a technology developed in Italy called Fresco Secco would result in artists being able to capture a level of realism previously unattainable using traditional fresco methods. Immersive Artistic Expression Fresco secco provided several advantages over the prevailing method of the day, which required the muralist to commit pigment to plaster while the plaster was still drying. This meant that muralists had to paint within a very confined and hurried window, and revisions would not be possible once the plaster set. In many ways, The Last Supper represented the culmination of the fresco secco method. And while it is easy to get lost in the obscurity of technological shop talk, it is important to understand […]
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