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A scooter-riding diva at Reykjavik’s Harpa concert hall
During the 1990’s through the early 2000’s, splashy museums and concert halls were popping up everywhere. Not that I’m a hater of this trend—after all, I enjoy Frank Gehry’s Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, built during the height of the building-as-spectacle orgy. Sometimes, though, these can seem kind of dated. And if something seems […]
Janacek doth suffer a sea-change
Janacek was a homely cat—with his mottled brown, gray, white and striped fur—not to mention clumsy, and rather lazy. They say pets resemble their people, so who knows; perhaps that’s why we picked him from the shelter, this cat who had been dropped off, adopted, and returned to the shelter a second time, before […]
We’re all still friends in Sarajevo
Originally posted on Picnic at the Cathedral:
In the foreground, a mosque. In the background, the spire of a Catholic church. This is Sarajevo. Sarajevo is my favorite sort of town: buzzing with dynamic street life, culturally rich and simultaneously traditional and forward-thinking. Trams are gliding by, the traffic is not that crazy and the architecture ranges…
Funniest travel moments of 2017
2017 was a year for great trips (HOB and I traveled to five countries outside the US) and appalling politics (looking at you, Cheetolini McRacistpants). 2017 could also be confusing at times. Fortunately, we found this sign which cleared a lot of things up for us. In 2017 we finally made it to Lithuania, which […]
When the rapture comes can I have your library card?
Years ago I saw a crappy banged up car—we’re talking about a total rust bucket—with a bumper sticker that read “When the rapture comes can I have your car?” Despite never having owned a car, I wanted that bumper sticker. I sincerely hope that the pious believers of the world will receive their heavenly reward […]
Look out 2017: I’m putting my scrappy shoulder to the wheel
In the early 1990’s I was working at performing arts center on the campus of a Midwestern university. I worked a lot, more than was ideal for a full time student, but I was paying my own way though school and needed the money, and besides that, I loved my front of house theater job. As a […]
These present-absent: how I memorized all of Shakespeare’s sonnets and deleted most of my blog photos
Last week my boss announced it was time to clean out our offices. She was serious enough to go into my meeting calendar and mark all the open time slots as busy, so I had no excuse to put it off. (While everyone in my department received the same directive, as the office slob I know […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 