Driven by curiosity’s sake.
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Sorting Out this Travel Experience from Central America
Why am I going on this trip to Central America? I keep asking myself this question over and over again. I promised to be reflective, as an act of worship as much as an act of internal probing about this trip. I came to the conclusion that I don’t need to justify this trip in… Read more
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On The Politics of Small Business
I was traveling in Honduras, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico, finding individuals who were making a living in entreprenuering ways. Much of this was done outside of the official economy, and it was everywhere, yet this was a “business culture” not unlike the one we have in the United States. What set the two places apart… Read more
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The Grand Organizing State for Hate
A few months ago, Phoenix became the center of international attention, under the leadership of the racist nativist activist Jon Ritzheimer. He organized a protest outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. With handguns and rifles in tow, Ritzheimer and his biker rally gathered to denounce Islam and bring light to the religion’s “violent” nature.… Read more
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A Prayer from Central America
I carried a prayer with me during my travels throughout Central America this summer. One of the teachings of the Prophet is that the prayers of a traveller are accepted, if their trip is with good intentions, so I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity. I prayed the prayer for the soul in… Read more
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Devil’s Punchbowl and Frozen Chaos
A hike, a year in the making (and a blog post nine months later, yikes)! This adventure was originally accomplished back in 2009 by Ameechi and me. We originally were going to mountain bike the crap out of the trail. Naive were we, because neither one of us had mountain biked (like ever); and, worse,… Read more
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Time for an Obligatory Blog Post
The 9/11 Memorial is a deep chasm with falling water. Walking towards where the towers stood I didn’t get the impression of it being significant. In fact around the Memorial was a festive park like atmosphere, much like the rest of New York City, filled with tourists from all around the world. I snaked my… Read more
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My Killer Wedge Photo Making the Surfer Rounds
I just recently let my photography go into the world under Copyleft. I believe in creative use and the need to free up the world of Copyright so that non-commercial use can allow further creative abilities. I anticipated that this would allow people to use my photographs as stock photography. However, I was never under… Read more
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Two Books- Zen and Ocean- While in Central America
Ambitious was I, on my adventure in Central America, to finish two books, I did decide. If past performance could predict future results then my NYC and New England trips would indicate that I would fail at finishing either of the two books I chose to take to Central america. In my defense, I was on… Read more
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A New Family Member
Well not really, she’s a kitten. I don’t think of cats (pets) as “family members” in that way, however, it has won over a piece of my heart with its fuzzy-wuzzy-ness. Though I need to put it on the record, kittens (cats) and I have had a formal agreement to keep to our own… Read more
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On the Art of Reflection: Or, After Guatemala
“My action item when I get back home from Central America is to force myself to reflect,” I had triumphantly shared to the Delegation group in our last wrap up reflection session right before my early morning departure from Guatemala City. But in my mind, as I sit on the flight back to LAX, I… Read more