Here’s a story about my visit to Auroville, February, 2018. Serenity personified.
Tango with a Stranger, NGT
September 19, 2016 by
Now and then in Buenos Aires, I have the urge to rub against a man I’ve never met. When that occurs, I usually go to La Boca, the barrio that throbs with the afterglow of Italian immigrants who
Protected: True North, Alaska Bachelor Auction
October 1, 2014 by
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Furaha (Joy) Guest House, Nairobi, Kenya
April 22, 2014 by
Furaha Guest House in Gigiri, Nairobi is wonderful.
Oregon Coast, Los Angeles Times
August 27, 2012 by
Read the original article here. August 26, 2012 FLORENCE, Ore. — My mind drifts back to Ken Kesey’s 1964 novel, “Sometimes a Great Notion,” as my friend Rob and I drive west from Eugene to the Oregon coast along scenic Highway 126. The curling two-lane road sweeps through views of the Cascade Range cloaked in […]
Fog Catalogue
June 21, 2012 by
This is a work in progress and has been approved by the International Council on Fog Fog is divided into three greater categories according to the degree of Moisture (wet or dry), its Source-— from sky, ground, or water—and its Light Content. I MOISTURE CONTENT A. Pluvia: wet fog a. Plumerie: (not to be confused […]
Tango in Nairobi, Africa
January 7, 2012 by
Oh, how many people told me “You won’t find tango in Nairobi?” They didn’t know Mario Ruggier, a native of Malta and naturalized Canadian who came by way of Geneva two years ago to work in Nairobi in an engineering capacity for the U.N. also. (There are some 25,000 expats in Kenya.) Mario found that only ersatz tango—the ballroom stuff of stiff frame, bodies held apart, making like a tulip. So he began to teach the real thing, Argentine tango and now he has a good following. I was received with open arms and close embrace.
Tango on Virgin Redwood
December 6, 2011 by
In the eight years of my tango addiction, I have tangoed on many types of floors and surfaces, indoors and outdoors, from Paris to Prague, New York to San Francisco, Buenos Aires to Montevideo. But I have never danced on virgin redwood. Such was the case this past weekend at the lovely 186-year-old Weller House Inn in Fort Bragg (Mendocino), California.
Trick & Treat
October 30, 2011 by
You never know who you will run into in New Jersey. That’s Dancin’ Will with me. When we met on a transatlantic cruise from New York to Lisbon in 1998 I had no idea we both had Jersey Shore connections. You’ll get my drift. Aka Bill Rodgers, Will was a social host on that cruise and I was on a assignment for VIA Magazine. So I stepped all over his toes. He still remembers it. Buddy Morrow (then 80 years old then) and the Tommy Dorsey Big Band played on the high seas for us.
Captive Backpacker Suffers Helsinki Syndrome
October 29, 2011 by
I was taken prisoner for six nights and seven days by a Sierra Club Local from southern California. I am now suffering from Helsinki Syndrome. I fell in love with my captors.
They marched me up tall mountains, some more than 11,000 feet above sea level. They led me into an isolated northeast corner of Yosemite National Park. They did not need to blindfold me for the sun was blinding at those dizzying heights. My vision was filled with blue sky so deep it had the loft of velvet. Scintillating, light-reflecting lakes with diamonds bouncing off the surface finished (Finnish-ed )the job. For I was a captive audience. They didn’t need to lure me by appealing to other senses, say, like filling the air with a fragrance so divine – of pine and vanilla of wood baking in sun. But they did.
The Magic of Tango
October 14, 2011 by
Tango is like no other partner dance for many reasons, two of which are its ready punctuation by silence and pauses. So much happens in the stillness, that the movement becomes a segue to the next silent pause with our partners. Tango is a dance done with with no words but full of dialogue and conversation between two bodies, mainly the torsos, but also wherever there is contact—between the palms, arms, backs, face, head. It is rich. It can be dense as a chocolate truffle and light as puff pastry. It can be ground deeply into the earth and so airy it’s not there. Tango is creative conflict with peaceful resolution—or revolutions. It channels the most naked meaning of the human condition—the urge to connect and be intimate with ourselves and other—like no other dance on this planet.
Rock & Wood Art of Sierra Nevada
October 14, 2011 by
It’s catnip for the muse of a writer to get lost in this level of life, sans mots. An artist acquaintance introduced me to wabi sabi (see below) and it inspired me to see with new eyes. Every writer needs new eyes, oh say once a year. My annual trip to the magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountain Range always renews me from the inside out.
I could’ve danced all night
February 1, 2011 by
Original article here. [VIA Magazine, 1999, photo 2007, Kent Wade, Buenos Aires] On a nine-day cruise across the Atlantic, swinging to the Big Band sound of Tommy Dorsey was a breeze—especially for women traveling alone. By Camille Cusumano (photo, Kent Wade) A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle, I chanted […]
Visitors’ Guide to Buenos Aires, Argentina
November 25, 2010 by
Where to eat, stay, tango, dance, walk, and more in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From an American who lived, loved, and danced there.
VIA Magazine archived stories
May 2, 2010 by
These are links to some of the many travel stories I wrote for VIA Magazine from 1988 through 2006. Some info may not have aged gracefully – do check all contact info. MENDOCINO, CALIFORNIA http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/mendocino97.asp BIG SUR, DRIVING THE BIG SOUTH http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/bigsouth97.asp – JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/jackson98.asp HAWAII’S ALOHA FESTIVALS http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/aloha97.asp PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/desertwilds98.asp […]
Buenos Aires Bares Notables
July 16, 2009 by
The bares notables (notable bars and cafes) of Buenos Aires are best accessed at this site.
Alaska’s Chilkoot Trail
March 13, 2008 by
Gold! Gold! Gold! the headline goaded. A listless nation heeded, trading its financial doldrums for its well-worn frontier spirit. From all corners of North America, ordinary people turned toward the cold, dark, remote land that held the stuff of their dreams. Flatlanders mostly, they were in for a surprise when they reached the snowy granitic […]
Protected: A Family Reunion in Sicily
September 18, 2007 by
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Savoring Patagonia
September 13, 2007 by
Dark peaks, many still cloaked in snow, rag the horizon. Besides the druid-like towers, a formation called the Cuernos del Paine rises above Lago Pehoé, one of many lakes we passed, whose waters seem to come in three shades—emerald, aquamarine, and sapphire. When the relentless wind blows, it’s a sight to see hundreds of frothy white caps stand up and dance on their rippling waters. wild hares browsing, and horses running loose from a nearby estancia. Milky Way achingly close. The sky is so dense with stars,
Protected: Las Garzas de San Blas
September 13, 2007 by
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.