When we set out on travels to remote locations, I’ve made it a habit to carry in my satchel a small shortwave radio even in this age of the internet.  Deep in the Himalaya, in equatorial rain forest, or the desert interiors of Africa, a small hand set with fully extended aerial has permitted access … More Truth-Telling in the Darkness: Grief Turned To Delirious Joy

Those who scan the faith scene of the Western world continue to write obituaries for the forlorn churches of Europe, where a handful of stubborn faithful gather on appointed days to full-throated baroque organ and sonorous liturgy.  A wistful poet has named this scene ‘the threadbare brocade of a passing age.’ Some years ago I … More Birmingham (UK) War Vet: Prayer in Burnt-Over Country

A mail-in ballot has arrived at our address here in Durham, North Carolina.  It came with little fanfare: the clack of our mailbox lid as the postman made a noontime delivery.  I am aware that the ether is stormy now with quarreling about the transaction it represents.  And heavy clouds forewarn of what is yet … More Electoral College of One: the Case of Malawi

I have a fascination for islands.  It surfaced when this eight-year-old roamed Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’, castaway on the ‘Isle of Despair’. These penchants rise somehow from the depths of psyche, roused in me by childhood stops where island names ring like rhapsody: Hawaii, Formosa (now Taiwan), Honshu, Cebu, Penang, Java, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).  Then, … More Isle of Charms, Isle of Despair

Picture a holiday charity fundraiser under chandeliers, the well-heeled rubbing elbows midst chatter about Christmas markets in Bavaria and the beaches of Bali.  My wife and I found ourselves there by some social accident last year, and, drinks in hand, worked our way to a quiet corner table where a 60-ish couple sat alee of … More Beneath Holiday Chandeliers: What Westphalia Offers Magnolia, Mississippi

The river steamers of yesterday, with a blast of their whistles, would cast off hawsers from the Hooghly River docks opposite Kolkata, and drift gently with the current past the grime and smoke of an Asian city into a gloaming of the world’s largest river delta, the Sundarbans.  There the waters of the sacred Ganga, … More Tiger-Widows of the Sundarbans: Who Is Eating Whom?

Alarming scenes are coming in from game-rich northern Botswana this week, where the carcasses of hundreds of elephants are strewn across the lush plains having perished from some mysterious cause.  This is not the work of poachers – the tusks are all still intact – and there is ample water and foliage available.  Early speculation … More A Poacher’s Tears and Gratitude

The interface of the wild and the world of human settlement is dicey territory to be sure.  Whether the elephants of the Okavango, the orangutan of Sumatra or the pangolins of Asia, wild creatures everywhere face unfriendly odds.  Jacquie Oberg, now of small town Minnesota, should know.  Some of those creatures ended up in her … More Two Cubs – and a Tiger Queen

A handful of lyrical lines can whisper to the traveler  – how vast is the sea of creative beauty – how deep the wistfulness of soul  – how strong the yearning in our sojourn – how paltry our grasp of the great yonder – how precious to find company midst ‘silent peaks’            _____________________________ Written On … More Du Fu: Pebble On the Tongue

As nations flail now for want of sage, moral leaders even while stalked by ruin, it would be fair to ask where we might turn our eyes.  What moorings might serve as safe harbor for the fashioning of a hereafter?  What landmarks can reliably guide us though peril?  While the coordinates of that location may … More Contagion: A Leader Named Patience