Gerry Dionne: An Elegy to a Journeyman
Earlier this month, the curtain fell on a man of irreplicable passion, small snippets of wisdom, and love for humanity. Gerry Dionne, a man I’ve known for the better part…
The littlest heretic
It must have been the fall of 1955. After two years of me fighting it off, my parents had succeeded in enrolling me into catechism classes at Our Lady of…
Last Pieces of the Puzzle
My friends are falling apart. This one is having open-heart surgery. A couple have diabetes. Another is noticing vision deterioration; and all of us have some hearing loss. Hearing what?…
‘I Was Attacked By the Serbian Internet Mob’ – The Art of Being Hated in the Modern Age
It must take a certain amount of self-loathing to draw an uninterested person into a campaign of targeted hatred. For the better part of a year, I was at the…
When War Consumes Your Fate Book Review – Wanderjahre: A Reporter’s Journey in a Mad World
There’s nothing more satisfying than the thoughtful ravings of a wily foreign correspondent who returns home. Especially once it can be melted down into a kind of beautiful soliloquy on…
Khachapuri and Rave
I have no idea who the people next to me are. I can’t see anything but the outline of humans. I can smell them. The dancing heap of dissolute egos.…
In Ohio, All Things Are Possible
There’s an old joke that claims 22 astronauts have been from Ohio. The joke-teller then asks: “What is it about your state that makes people want to flee the Earth?”…
Review – An Austrian Abroad and Hollywood Seduction in ‘LAlien’
As an American that moved to Austria, I had been wanting to read C. E. Miedler’s book for some time. From what I knew of the book it was about…
The Cinder Block House
It’s 7:00 on a July morning in 2013. Winter in Lesotho’s Mokhotlong district. The herd boys whistle as they pass, walking their sheep, goats and skinny cows up into the…
A Sole Flame Cast Against a Hall of Mirrors
Being a sole flame cast against a hall of mirrors has always been an excitable affair. It’s the feeling anyone gets as an expat and foreigner in a place they’ve…