The Magicians of Sin City

I stepped out into the muted, pale pink morning of the Las Vegas Strip in an effort to earn my steps for the day, a steaming paper cup of cappuccino warming my hand, the occasional glug of it burning deep into my throat and chest. A sporadic runner hurried past along the glittering sidewalk, panting, […]

Why I Try to Make the Best of It

She sits on a quiet corner up the street from the Coliseum, and when the weather is warm you can sit at an outside table, under the trees that line the sidewalk. If you’re really fortunate the wind might sway the branches and you may capture a glimpse of the edges of the grand marble […]

In Which I Heed My Own Advice

Charles sat at the table next to mine at lunch yesterday. He is from Yellowknife in Western Canada and he is traveling alone. This is his second trip to Italy, and he will be here for a month and a half. Yesterday, he arrived in Bologna, having taken the bus from Bari. He took the […]

Three Days

My train pulled into the Bologna Centrale station shortly before 2 pm. I have three days in Italy and was well behind schedule; when time is short every hour counts. My flight was delayed leaving Newark due to nose cone damage, and my mind raced. Then the Leonardo Express train from the airport to Roma […]

Butterblogger Returns to Land

It’s been a long time, my friends, but Butterblogger has returned at last. I know I haven’t posted since my day at the Genocide Memorial in Rwanda way back in September, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been traveling – it just hasn’t been anything I would consider to be blogworthy. You see I’ve been […]

They’re Always There, We Have But To Find Them

“Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” Oskar Schindler was given a ring with that Talmudic inscription by the people he saved. I couldn’t help but reflect on those words today at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where we spent the afternoon commemorating the lives lost in the Rwandan Genocide, a catastrophe of humanity that […]