Today I left Guatemala the same way I entered: exhausted, preoccupied and smelling of cheap wine, thanks to an airport rendezvous aimed at loosing the lingering effects of my despedida and banking some last minute memories at the overpriced travel bar. But instead of focusing on the road ahead, I wi[...]
Author Archive
Traveling’s Divine Perspective
A Jew, Catholic, Muslim, and atheist walk into a bar. Despite the cheap lead off, there’s no punch line. It is just the typically diverse sampling of another Friday night abroad, an amazing assembly often overlooked. It is so easy to be surrounded by our own demographic at home that we are rarely [...]
October 22nd, 2010 - 3:00 pm § in Around Town, Guatemala
It’s Not You, It’s Me: The Mistake of Losing Focus
We set off on global excursions determined to not only discover foreign lands but also uncharted personal territory. Books are packed that inspire thought, a journal is bought to capture valuable reflections, and a pledges are made to focus attention inward. What kind of person is at my core? How wi[...]
September 1st, 2010 - 7:24 am § in Careers, Good Ideas, Looking for Opportunity, Nonprofit Spotlight, Tips & Resources
You Have to Walk Before You Can Run Away
The excerpt presents a highly self-analytical question to the internationally mobile population of dreamers and do-gooders: Are you running from or toward something? Only the delusional would argue that there is nothing personal about their flight. Just looking to make the world a better place by gi[...]
August 19th, 2010 - 7:49 am § in Around Town, Culture, Good Ideas, Guatemala, In the Field, Volunteer
Lessons in Purchasing Power and Investment
I have tried my hardest over the past few years to bury the key concepts and bold lettering that were force fed in business school, a process heavily aided by the acquisition of two new languages and ether-like Chinese rice wine. Last week, however, I was reminded of the purchasing power of American[...]
Runway Mix: This Time Tomorrow
The day of departure is an emotionally volatile period for soon-to-be expats. Anticipation is tarnished by anxiety. Isolation belittles independence. Caffeine wrestles with physical and psychological exhaustion. On May 19, 2010, the day that a Midwest summer was traded for the Central American rainy[...]
Location, Location, Location
As my Introduction to Marketing professor told us on the first day, it’s all about location, a rule that spreads well beyond the world of advertising and real estate. Too often in life, people allow their to geographical position to define them. Tyler seems trapped by the repetition of Chicago a[...]
