by Matthew Link
When we were out at sea on Bungo Rye, we kids always wanted to jump into the crystal Pacific when it was calm. Dad would haul out the sea anchor: the big round canvas tarp connected by a ring of ropes like a parachute connected to the boat. Its drag would stop the [...]
by Jessica Kerry
There were three shocking things about the Israel Defense Forces I kept running into with my parents and sister during our stay in Jerusalem.
The first was the simple fact of seeing them in the first place. There were young troops everywhere, from the Israel Museum, to the Old City, to Yad Vashem, the [...]
by Jann Huizenga
The best thing about my short-term rental in Ragusa, Sicily is that it comes with a cleaning woman. Lucia arrives every Monday morning sporting a strand of pearls, heels, and a pencil skirt. She doesn’t shed any of them, neither while mopping the stone floors nor while scouring the bidet. I work at [...]
by Mei-Ling McNamara
“What motivated such people to do their deplorable work? Anger? Certainly. But also the longing for order, a desire to turn the human world into an inorganic one, where everything would function perfectly and work on schedule. The longing for order is at the same time a longing for death, because life is [...]
by Jim Benning
It’s Friday night in a small Tijuana arena, the kind of rickety Mexican structure that can make you misty for American building-and-safety codes, and in the ring before me, masked wrestlers are smacking and flipping and generally abusing one another for my viewing pleasure.
Whap! The great Hijo del Santo goes down. That’s gotta [...]
by Jann Huizenga
On a flawless autumn morning en route to the market that hugs Ecce Homo Church, you round a bend into a narrow lane and come upon a pair of anziani, ancients, engaged in conversation. A shaft of sunlight illuminates them like a klieg light. Canes in hand, they lean into each other, their [...]
by Pamela Alma Bass
The tiny sweaters catch my eye every time I pass them on my way to the biblioteca, or the mercado. They dangle from small plastic hangers on the open wooden doors of the shop, beckoning me with their multicolored shouts, little silk ribbons waving in the wind, teasing me with their cry [...]
by Paul B. Hertneky
“The secret of Crete is deep. He who sets foot on the island feels a strange strength penetrating through his veins and his soul widens.” —Nikos Kazantzakis
Go ahead and think of Greek islands as sun-baked bliss in blue and white. I had fallen into the habit of hopping to Athens and hightailing [...]
by Kristin Barendsen
It looks easy, like driving a car, except that the gas is a flick of the wrist. But when I take a deep breath and turn the key, I understand why tuk-tuks make the big bucks.
“Right hand, fuel!” Pon shouts from the back seat. The engine sputters and roars to life. “Left foot, [...]
by Jeff Vize
I had been traveling with Charlotte for nearly six months when we arrived in her native France. I had begun my trip in Japan, where I had spent the last year working, and met Charlotte in China a mere two weeks into my journey. Our initial meeting was pure luck – she barged [...]
