They Were the First

On a high mountain plateau somewhere in Southern Armenia, the weather was soft and the sun glowed warmly as she moved through her daily passage across the dome of the sky, her view obscured only by scattered cotton-ball clouds drifting by. Along the horizons in every direction, mountaintops marked the ephemeral border between earth and […]

Of Loss and Persistence

I listened to Hasmik, our guide, speaking to half of the tour bus in Russian, understanding only one word being spoken again and again: Ararat Switching seamlessly to English, she explained the importance of Mt. Ararat. It is the tallest mountain on the Armenian Highlands and once stood at the center of the Armenian nation. […]

Armenia as Humanity

Ioanna corrected me when I said “everything” was closed. “Just the museums,” she said. She’s correct that museums aren’t everything but I’m not a big shopper, and I wanted to do something other than sit in cafes and parks. If I had planned better, today would have been a great day to have planned day […]

A Beautiful Easter Day

The old man sitting next to the bubbling drinking fountain in a dusty blue ball cap took a long drag of his cigarette and looked up at me with his puffy grey face, deep crescents of crimson underlining each sagging eyelid. “Sit down.” I turned to him. “I said ‘Sit down.’” he ordered me in […]

Behind-the-Scenes and the Stories I Don’t Tell

Sometimes I need a trip. I just need to get away And when life gets busier I need it to be alone, so I can sit with my thoughts, turn them over, examine them, and find the answers I need. A good trip facilitates that through distraction – I can focus my conscious brain elsewhere […]

A Tale of Two Cheeses

As a child, the first cheese I remember discovering and liking was Muenster. Sure, there were other cheeses in our home such as bland, somewhat weird tasting American slices that made a great grilled cheese, and briny, pungent parmesan, which we sprinkled liberally on Mom’s spaghetti. But these were such normal things that I didn’t […]