My blog has migrated to a new host and is being painstakingly reconstructed here. Please bear with me as I iron out wrinkles, hammer out the dents, and apply enough spit and duct tape to hold it all together.— Karen
“Hey, the new SMART train is finally starting,” Rich said. The endless delays, over everything from technical glitches to permit issues, had become a local joke. “We should try it out.” I instantly thought of Petaluma , where we were scheduled to meet friends for lunch on Thursday. “How about an overnight stay at the…
“And that,” Mike told me, “was when I saw Bigfoot.” Wait, what? He’d actually had a close encounter with the legendary humanoid creature said to inhabit the local forests? You can see why I’ve had a lifelong love affair with California’s roadside attractions. You expect the unexpected, and even so, they always surprise you. Rich…
Earlier this week I was rambling on about some of my favorite travel encounters — meeting musicians in a Trieste dive bar, dining with a dentist in Zagreb , the Stockholm “oops” party — to Mary Rogers , who was interviewing me for her podcast, Experience 50 . It was a morning interview…
“Your biggest risk isn’t failing, it’s getting too comfortable,” said Drew Houston, the guy who started Dropbox. “Every day, we’re writing a few more words of a story. I wanted my story to be an adventure and that’s made all the difference.” The story of this blog has been a far more exciting adventure than…
Last Saturday, I had the astonishing good fortune to meet Betty Soskin , one of the original “Rosie the Riveters,” women who took on “men’s work” in the nation’s factories and shipyards during World War II. At 95, Betty is America’s oldest park ranger, and she takes pride in sharing her story, giving frequent talks…
Yasmin Radjy Every time the guy in the Oval Office does something that makes us all crazy, he creates countless new volunteers for the progressive cause. He is our best possible recruitment tool! But then what? Being all fired up is great, but what exactly are the next steps? First, we zero in on our…
I love to ask people, “If you could look the president right in the eye, right now, and say one thing to him, what would it be?” This always prompts a moment of silence, a glassy-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights stare, then a deep breath and a steely gaze, followed by something from the heart. When I posed…
“I know somebody you should interview,” a friend wrote me. “The Christian Coalition once called her ‘the most dangerous woman in America.’” “Oh, yeah,” I said. “I definitely want to talk to her .” With so many of us embracing political activism for the first time in decades – if not the first time ever…
A video of my conversation with Jen Hofmann, creator of the Americans of Conscience checklist. Every journey teaches us something, even if it’s only that pig’s ears really are as rubbery and tasteless as you’d imagine, or that the best time to check for bed bugs is when you arrive at night, not when you…
Feeling powerless isn’t in Tanya Halkyard’s DNA. She grew up hearing stories about her great-great-great-great aunt, Susan B. Anthony , who blazed a trail through 19th century American politics, championing the abolition of slavery, votes for women, and other causes considered radical, if not outright insane, at the time. But Tanya never imagined, when she…
CELEBRATING GOOD NEIGHBORS These days I’m writing about Good Neighbors, exploring how the people around me are working to help each other get through these challenging times. My weekly posts appear on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on my travel and research schedule.
THIS BLOG IS A PROMOTION-FREE ZONE. As my regular readers know, I never get free or discounted goods or services for mentioning anything on this blog (or anywhere else). I only write about things I find interesting and/or useful.
