In California, April means a tranquil ease out of mild, wet winter into the sunny perfection of spring to review your ennui at liesure. April in Chicago, however, was all violent contrasts, tantalizing then punishing.
At the beginning of this month I landed back in the U.S. after two years of living abroad, in Oaxaca, Mexico and Berlin, Germany. Bringing the adventure to a close was bittersweet. It was hard to be sure when the right moment was for it to end, but I’m so grateful I had these experiences, and I’m also glad to be back.
Leaving Washington for New York this morning – it’s been a great few days checking out DC’s neighborhoods and monuments.
Spent the weekend near the Russian River in Sonoma County. There in the dark groves under the redwood trees there is the feeling of something old and strange.
A few weeks ago I went to a cabin up above Clearlake that I rented for a writing retreat. Here are some pictures I snapped of the place and the surrounding area—five miles up a county road, above Lucerne, California.
In the design of BART stations, particularly MacArthur and others that place riders on platforms abutting eight lanes of howling freeway traffic, the Brutalism in effect isn’t only the kind with a capital b.
Final notes from my recent trip to Central Europe.
More notes from my recent trip to Central Europe. Prague is amazing, but the touristed zones are hard to enjoy due to being heavily overrun. I feel like the real Prague is sort of hidden, would take some further digging to get to.
Notes from my recent trip to Central Europe. Berlin is amazing: in a state of beautiful decay and vigorous reinvention.
Took some pictures while in Prague. Left my battery charger at home so no pictures of Berlin. I’m editing my travel diaries and will post excerpts from them soon. Two weeks in Europe gave me a lot to think about.
Sparrows in the pooled water by the storm wall. Graffiti on the storm wall, the long curved smooth concrete.
There’s a green empire just 90 minutes drive down the peninsula from San Francisco, in the Santa Cruz mountains. Big Basin is a retreat into the archaic woods.
As published 8/3/06 in the Sacramento News & Review. The Balkans are a place that defies description, a complex patchwork of ethnic and religious identities with an intricate and violent history. Shon Meckfessel, a young writer born and raised in Sacramento, grew to love Eastern Europe during his travels there. Enough, in fact, to create […]