by Elizabeth Creely A hiking trip turns disastrous for two sisters in California’s Desolation Wilderness. Last July I went to Desolation Wilderness with my sister Emily to celebrate her fortieth birthday. I woke up at 5 a.m., kissed my husband goodbye, and walked to the nearest BART station with my backpack strapped to me. I […]
by Rosalie Justus Hiking sola in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, the author worries about same-species predators and other problems. I know right away, the Dutch aren’t going. Marlie’s teeth are all purple from the herbs she’s been chewing. They’re a sharp contrast against her pale skin. She’s one of those naturalists that think if it’s not […]
by Kim Brown Seely How Rwanda Reached Out and Grabbed Me. Charles weighed 400 pounds, stood nearly six feet when fully upright, and was one hundred percent alpha-male. His massive black head was luxuriantly hairy, and our eyes met daringly as he reclined in a bamboo thicket as big as a Barcalounger. Charles, I’d been […]
by Wendy Inouye When you are tramping around on foot in the middle of the African bush, you are offputtingly far from the protection of the police, your embassy, and even Robert Mugabe. Best, then, not to piss off the wildlife. And if you do, try not to do it twice in one day. Adapted […]
by Janet Forman Tobogganing down the Cresta Run makes skydiving look like knitting. “It’s a hell of a feeling,” sighs former racecar driver Gunter Sachs, “speed and courage mixed with exuberance.” “It’s like flying loop de loops in a plane,” avows Raymond McKenzie, a strapping 38-year-old venture capitalist from Barbados. “At some points you think […]
by Peter Mandel How do the hungry drivers of NASCAR fuel up? With Ragu Rich & Meaty Spaghetti Sauce. I snap off the TV. I flip past the magazine ads screaming about speed and about the men in helmets who achieve it. I am sure that America’s top drivers burn calories thundering around tracks in […]
by Carmen Semler “I wish for you that when you grow up you will return to Malta and visit the good Sisters at the orphanage.” Those were the words my father repeated to me during his worst of times. I knew what he meant by “the good Sisters” and how important it was for him […]
by Catherine Watson If the key had been pretty, I could have worn it around my neck like jewelry for the last 40 years, but it’s utterly plain — bronze-colored, round-headed, the kind the Yale company stamps out by the millions every year. I have kept it anyway, not for its looks, but for what […]
by Janna Leyde In a department store on the biggest island in the hemisphere of the Southern Cross my two Aussie friends waiting patiently while I debated between $20 or $200 sneakerscheap generics or unnecessarily expensive Lacoste. It was simple. In three hours I needed a pair of sneakers to climb a bridge, and my […]
by Janet Forman There’s an intoxicating energy along the broad boulevards of Harlem these days. In the heart of black America, a wellspring for generations of eloquent literature and incendiary music – and a community that has seen more than its share of hard times – fashion and design boutiques are opening amid the convivial […]
