April 2008
10 posts
The Rest of the Map
With the recently announced independence of Kosovo, my list of nations that don’t end up on a National Geographic fold-out map just got shorter.
Here are some of the other countries that my map recognizes:
The Basque Country (Euskal Herria or Euskadi)
Biafra
Burma (Myanmar is the name given to Burma by the military junta)
Chechnya
Guam
Hawai’i
Hong Kong
Kashmir
Kurdistan
Nagalim
...
March 2008
7 posts
The Last Time I Cried…
I just spent last week visiting our WMF staff in Kathmandu, Nepal.
They put me up in the guestroom at Karuna Ghar (“Home of Compassion”), our WMF Nepal children’s home for girls. It’s been open for nearly six years and is such a place of peace and hope.
It had been nearly two and a half years since I visited Nepal. There were a few new faces. One of them, a little girl named Christine.
When I...
Tech-Mology, is it Good or is it Whack?
I’m sorta old school.
I got my first computer when I was 23 years old. My first e-mail address when I was 25. It was just a couple years ago that Brent, our Director of Administration, made me stop using Microsoft Works (I think it might have been the 1997 version).
When Phileena and I were dating and engaged, I was living in India. The best technology we had then was our trusty old fax...
Laughter of Children Will Heal the World
I’m in Kathmandu, Nepal this week.
When I used to live in India, I would make visa-runs to Nepal or just come up here for a holiday. About 11 years ago we started a WMF (Word Made Flesh) community in Kathmandu and now I make visits every year or so to connect with the staff and local board of directors.
When I landed at the Tribhuvan airport this week I actually applied for what was my 15th...
Shepard Fairey: Sticking to the Man
Shepard Fairey, the godfather of graffiti, street art innovator and phenomenologist, keeps it real by making his art accessible and available.
He routinely puts out a handful of signed posters each month for $30-35. Usually, the 200-350 hand-numbered prints of these signed editions are sold out in 10 minutes. Sadly, a week later you can find these prints on e-Bay for sale, typically around...
Mess-Spallin's uv Mia Naim
Poor Phileena, she gets it coming and going. Our last name is sometimes a little hard for people. First, to spell (I think it’s the 3 vowels in a row, E-U-E, that throws folks). Second, to pronounce.
One of my favorite versions was:
Cria Henarts
But, some of the more popular are:
Chris Heurtz
Chris Huertz
Chris Hevertz
Chris Henertz
Chris Hewertz
Chris Hurtz
Chris Hertz
I’m...
Street Justice: Wall St. Style
I’m embarrassed to tell you about one of the worst things I ever saw on TV.
Before you read any further, promise you won’t hold this against me. Seriously. If there’s any chance you think you might hold it against me, then stop reading now.
Okay. So, it was that show COPS.
I make it a habit not to watch COPS, but I think I actually saw this episode when we used to only get like four stations....