Haru Zbad I have written before about spending several months alone in a cabin in the Catskill Mountains of New York. A friend asked me, “After you’ve spent so much time alone, how does that change your life when you’re not alone? Do you bring the fruits of your solitude with you down to the city?” I […]
Monthly Archives: August 2009
Solitude and Meeting.
17-Aug-09Money and Radio.
12-Aug-09Kovvūr I’m just back from a 2,500 mile road trip and want to know: how is it that New York City has the worst radio offerings of any city in the United States? I heard the Talking Heads song “Born Under Punches” on the radio near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. When did that last happen in New York? […]
Dozing on a Saturday Afternoon.
12-Aug-09The Ohio Valley.
06-Aug-09I spend the night just south of Youngstown. All day I had in my head the great song about Youngstown, the most expressive piece of art I know about these “rust belt” towns. Once they were iron, now rust. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVXYzcb3r-w
Detroit Safari, Part 2
04-Aug-09I’m still recovering from my trip through Detroit, which makes New Orleans’ Ninth Ward look like Salzburg. It’s been especially striking to travel around Milwaukee the past few days, as Milwaukee, while not a shining city on the hill, seems so livable, well cared-for, and humane by comparison. For a great sense of the experience, […]
Hookah Town, U.S.A.
04-Aug-09Dearborn, Michigan.
Dearborn, Michigan.
04-Aug-09I dropped off a friend at the Detroit airport a few days ago and couldn’t resist taking a spin over to see Dearborn, one of the unique American places, as it is, proportionally, the most Arab and most Muslim city in America. It is also the birthplace of Henry Ford and the location of the […]
Edward Said’s Last Tin of Tobacco.
04-Aug-09Some oddities from the Arab-American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. They had a case of relics from the life of Edward Said, the famous scholar whose fame has perhaps not done much good (for my essay on Orientalism see here). Why in the world we should be interested in his last tin of tobacco I […]
Hunters and Hunted.
12-Aug-09Terrifying electrical storms swept the mountains Sunday and Monday nights, raining bolts onto the mountaintops. Since there have been no fewer than three lightning strikes within 200 feet of my cabin while I have been inside it – including striking the cabin itself – it’s hard not to feel terror as you watch the bolts […]