By Maryah Converse Culture and Ideas Gold Winner in the Thirteenth Annual Solas Awards When I tell people that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan, the response is usually predictable: “Wow. How was that?” How am I supposed to answer that in few enough words that their eyes don’t glaze over? Overwhelming. Amazing. […]
By Eliot Stein Byssus, or sea silk, is one of the rarest and most coveted materials in the world. Today, there is only one person left on the planet who knows how to harvest, dye and spin it into elaborate patterns that glisten like gold. Each spring, under the cover of darkness and guarded by […]
By Aaron Gilbreath Within Tokyo’s populous Shibuya ward lies the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing. By some estimates, 2,500 people cross here during rush hour each time the signal changes. Locals call it “The Scramble.” Every day, over two million passengers pass through neighboring Shibuya Station, commuting to work and enjoying the area’s countless shops and […]
By Dave Zoby Syria, and the ancient lessons of friendship. Dust-covered aluminum satellite dishes rimmed the rooftops. During the heat of the day, electrical circuits popped audibly, faltering all afternoon. Mid-day, the bakers came out in their floured aprons to read the state paper in the shade of their doorways. There was the sweet-shop, the […]
By Amy Marcott A souvenir becomes a symbol of hope. At the end of my first trip to Paris, I had come to the Place du Tertre to buy a painting. I could not afford this. I’d just finished an MFA in creative writing and financed my trip with my student loan. But intuition told […]
By Michael Sano Secrets surround a romance between a visitor and local in the mountains of Nicaragua. The music at the discoteca is so loud that I have to shout to be heard. I’m nodding my head, pretending to listen to one of my co-workers, while searching the green slices of light on the dance […]
By V. Hansmann Some people say the most splendid thing about a road trip to Ohio is the road trip from Ohio. I might have agreed; benighted rustbelt, flyover, swing state that it is. But follow this simple itinerary and you may come away with affection for Ohio. Spring is a good time to travel. […]
By Hannah Sheldon-Dean In the middle of the St. Charles Bridge on a warm day in Prague, we wait with our binders of music, wondering if anyone will bother to show up. There are five or six of us here now, out of perhaps twenty-five. We’ve been singing all week, and this is our day […]
By Peggy Jaffe At first I ignore the mail piled in the foyer, take my shoes off, and absorb the warmth of the terra cotta floor. Outside the living room window, a carpet of dandelions welcomes me like a light parade. How I love being in Tuscany in May—the lavender-laced air, hills stretching skyward, birds […]
By Jessica Dur Taylor It’s not that we hadn’t fallen in love with Cuba, her slender crocodile figure and rhythmic hips, her bawdy street corners and crumbling veneer. We had. We’d been all the way to her furthest tip, braving a five-hour bus ride over the sumptuous mountain curves, to Baracoa, where Christopher Columbus first […]
