I have wanted to visit Italy for a very long time. Naturally, part of Italy’s attraction is its historical richness, but for me, an even larger part is the food, the scenery, and the culture. Thanks to an ongoing scholarly workshop I’m participating in, I finally got a chance to find out whether the Italian life really is la dolce vita. What I discovered was–as I suppose it always is when you travel–different from what I expected. Continue reading
Travel
The Man with the Beard
I saw a man with a beard on the subway today. You don’t often see beards like that. Continue reading
Kangding by Summer Light
Once again, I am posting far behind schedule. This post describes the last major trip my daughter and I took during her summer break in 2017. Now she’s enjoying her 2018 winter break, and we’re trying to decide where to go for the two weeks before we head to her grandparents’ in Hunan for Chinese New Year. Continue reading
Youth
I have just read the most wonderful comment on youth in the introduction of a book, the rest of which I do not own and cannot vouch for, but which might be worth owning for this line alone: Continue reading
How I was Ruined for Tourist Art
My family and I recently made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Beijing. My wife and I met in Beijing and spent several years living there. We still have a number of friends there. In fact, they’re probably the closest we have. Close enough that when we texted them on Saturday morning to let them know we were in town they all met us for dinner on Saturday night. Continue reading
On First Looking into Keats’s Sonnets
I want to talk today about Keats’s sonnets. I’ve always liked Keats—it’s hard to imagine not liking Keats—but I’ve mostly read his odes. Is it possible to graduate from an English-language high school without reading “Ode to a Grecian Urn?” I certainly hope not. But I honestly can’t recall ever reading any of his sonnets except for “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.” I didn’t know what I was missing. Continue reading
The Pornographic Gaze, Smartphones, and Virtual Experience
[UPDATE 8/10/2017] This post has drawn a great deal of attention. It seems that recording things with our cellphones is not only something we all do but also something we all feel ambivalent about at times. I almost didn’t upload this post because I was afraid it would be read in black and white. I was concerned that I hadn’t succeeded in presenting a sufficiently nuanced view. Reading the responses I received–even though they were all positive–I felt sure I had failed 🙂. Continue reading
Kangding Summer
The river’s roar is the subtle backdrop to everything in Kangding 康定. Five hundred—even a thousand—feet up the hillside it’s still there, echoing endlessly between the valley’s mountain walls. Continue reading
Tristes Tropiques (pace Lévi-Strauss)
My daughter and I recently made a trip to Xishuangbanna 西双版纳, a small slice of tropical Southeast Asia that lies in the far south of China’s Yunnan province, pressed up against the border with Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. Continue reading
Visiting Dege (1)
This post is only a little more than a year late in coming. I’m not exactly certain why I have been so remiss about writing this: possibly because it was a wonderful experience that both demands and defies a good discussion. In the course of the trip and in the months since it, I have come to feel a special connection to this place and the people that live there. It’s hard to capture that in a blog post, but I guess it’s still worth trying. Continue reading
Ten Thousand Li 