Art and Life

I was 35 years old when I stepped onto an airplane for the first time.  When I tell people that, about half of them pop their eyes in disbelief.  The other half shrug their shoulders and say something to the effect of, “Yeah…I get that.”  I’ve been a rural Hoosier …

Maybe if the thieves hadn’t pick-pocketed Wendi’s purse, my feelings about London would be different.  The fact remains, however, that they did.  London, consequently, proved a rotten place to visit. It happened in that literal “blink of an eye.”  Standing near the Wellington Arch in London’s Hyde Park, my fiancée, …

Standing at Abbey Road does create a slight connection to that moment fifty years ago, but it also demonstrates Time’s power to wall us off from history. Ten years ago, I signed onto Beatlemania.  I was 40 at the time browsing the aisles at a nearby Best Buy when I …

I have always considered myself a tolerant, open-minded progressive.  Life in the United States perpetuated that myth, allowing me to remain ignorant of my biases, especially those regarding race.  But my first day in Sweden ripped that illusion to shreds. It happened in the span of three seconds.  Standing in …

I can’t tell you what’s different between a visit to a Swedish or American doctor.  I can tell you, however, that when I hear Americans use the word “socialism” to describe places like Sweden, they’re getting it wrong.  Both sides are getting it wrong. For me the problem is always …

In Sweden, I saw the kind of train and rail system we would probably have here in Indiana had we not dismantled it in order to sell cars and build Interstate highways.  It’s a choice with a far-reaching impact, one that often keeps me home rather than traveling around the …

I didn't have to know any Swedish to get along in the country.  But forcing the Swedes to speak to me in my language made me realize how intellectually fat and sluggish life in the U.S. has made me.

Updated on January 26, 2020 The Final Installment Coming Soon! By most standards, I’ve lived an isolated life.  My last time out of the country was a fishing trip to Canada in 1979…when I was 10 years old.  Even by domestic standards, I haven’t zipped across that much of the …