New Urbanism: Give the People What They Want

We know that food photographers have a stable of tricks to fool the viewer. That appealing ice cream is really mashed potatoes sprayed with olive oil. Those cheerios are lying in thinned out glue or yogurt, certainly not milk. And that stack of pancakes is probably swimming in photogenic but inedible motor oil, because it …

Two hour diversion to OBX .

I had a weird day. I checked off a thing from someone else's bucket list. In Chincoteague, my surprise cohort had come directly from the Outer Banks of NC, checking off a long time desire to visit there. Hearing that, it struck me how I've never been to famous Kitty Hawk; one of the few places …

NJ and Baltimore .

I've had a great couple days. After leaving Toms River seeing Bill's new house, I drove down US-9 to Cape May. I learned the term South Shore. I had scallops at sunset overlooking a marina, after touring the kitschy motel resorts of adjoining  Westwood NJ. Too cool. Zoning requires new construction (walgreens, wawa) to adopt 50's …

The Jersey Shore .

I woke up today in the NJ suburbs near Rutgers, on an extended stay with my friend Jack. As I posted elsewhere, we started Sunday 9/11/16 with a stirring memorial service at the Marlboro memorial park. From there, Jack showed me “the Jersey shore”. A couple of scamps, trolling for trouble in his corvette. Watching …

9/11 Memorial Service .

    I wasn't paying attention again, landing in DC and driving to Metro NYC on September 10th. Gee , why was every overpass festooned with American flags? The small town of Marlboro NJ lost 14 Souls on 9/11, employed at WTC or involved in the emergency. This neighborhood seems to be a migration point …

Grand Rapids & Kalamazoo .

My Grand Rapids AirBnb stay was way out in the country. One of those houses you pass by and ask “why would somebody live there?”. Well I met two of the nicest people, and I can answer the question. Their house is modern, on a huge tract of land, surrounded by corn fields, on those …

New Friends: West Michigan Edition

My time in Traverse City, and now Grand Rapids has been filled with the most interesting, informative, inspiring, and delightful people. I met all of these in the last third of my time in Michigan, in just the one week after AMUUSE csmp. In Traverse City, I first spent a day in Empire, with a …

Top o’ the Mitten .

Everyone knows Michigan's lower peninsula is the shape of a "mitten", of your held out left hand. I'm in Interlochen, in the Leelanau peninsula, the fingernail of the ring finger. This is cherry country, Traverse City's famous cherry festival, and of sailboats on the protected harbor. The grand traverse bay burrows 20 miles inland, so at …

Leelanau and Traverse City .

I'm stuffed! I've been on my own in my home state of Michigan for 3 days and have essentially eaten any "made in Michigan" product I could find. All those apple orchards I've been seeing are, of course, cherries as Grand Traverse bay is home to the annual cherry festival and that entire industry. And …

AMUUSE 2: Costumes and Comets

Another great day at AMUUSE camp ended with a bucket of fun, then a mystical finale. First we had our United Nations themed costume party. Those who came in cars brought outfits to represent (truly or humorously) some country of the world. Elaborate Viking, Egyptian, and Scot outfits appeared. Also authentic garb ftom China, India, …