Taking you on a little journey...

This shall be the first of many entries regarding the cultural interactions that occur while traveling throughout the world. My intention is two fold, as many deliberate actions have several differing but equal purposes. Often times I am asked about the places I travel; is it safe, are the people friendly, what does the country look like, would you return? I intend to place the reader in the situations I encounter in the hopes of expanding his or her own perception of the world beyond their daily lives. Secondly, I hope to create a dialogue that will spread amongst the viewers of this site and the people they interact with on a daily basis. The latter being the more important element of the intentions, though one does not exist without the other’s presence. A dialogue that goes beyond what the mass media claims is reality. A dialogue that may create a feeling of human empathy that bears no cultural biases or prejudices. A dialogue that may broaden or reverse the preconceived notions that people harbor. Notions gained from a mass media which has evolved from its origin as a “watchdog of the government” into, at times, a mouth piece for the motivations of partisan politics filled with exhaustible talking points which stifle healthy dialogue and debate. For without a realistic, empathetic and passionate dialogue about the world beyond our borders and within, we can not maintain the complex and amazing machinery that is our democracy.

As the author of this column, I promise to not bog the reader down with trifling statements of mundane activities; what I ordered from a samosa stand in Nepal; how I rode a camel around the great pyramids of Giza, and how the bed I slept in last night had questionable microscopic critters living within its fibers. I promise to tell you of the conversation I had with the owner of the samosa stand who fled his homeland in the Himalayans to avoid a civil war, or the woman I shared a beer with by a pool in Jordan who remains a Palestinian refugee after decades of living in displacement, or the camel handler wearing a Las Vegas Police Department sweatshirt who asked if I could be his second wife in order to come to America and visit. I promise to keep the entries short and digestible (present entry excluded, of course) and I will show you with images of the world I am witnessing. I will work towards leaving blatant political statements out of this blog as well, though that is not an absolute statement. Many of you are aware of my political leanings and there is no need to muddle the heart of this column with politics. My politics will be apparent in my actions, in my subjects and the things I choose to write about and that which I leave out.
“It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid such subjects. Everyone writes of them in one guise or another, it is simply a question of which side one takes and what approach one follows. ” ~ G. Orwell

As the reader, I ask that you comment on what you read, to myself, to your neighbor or your colleagues standing around the water cooler. I ask that you elevate and initiate a dialogue with your friends and family that questions our role as Americans, both at home and abroad, and question that which you perceive to be true. A dialogue that is mutual and well intended, without the deviation into partisan bickering which happens so often in our country. For in questioning our own reality and bearing witness to the realities of others, the tools that democracy affords us; freedoms of choice, speech and the power to demand better of our government, may be utilized to their fullest to truly make the world in which we live a sustainable place for raising the next generation, and the ones to follow.

I ask that you spend some time with these writings and forward them to your circle of friends and loved ones. The subscription button on the sidebar will send an email to your mailbox each time this column is updated, making life a little simpler. My intention is to see how far and wide we can spread a little conversation. Turn off the television, step away from the internet (after reading this, of course) and engage those around you in the art of conversation!

And if nothing else, you may learn something, or see something that you had no idea existed. And remember that questioning your world, your reality and at times your identity is a healthy and positive action.