Published in Age of Awareness·May 16Member-onlyI Teach Critical Thinking But Some Would Accuse Me of IndoctrinationI can understand why, but it’s easy to prove I’m not — While many teachers work to develop the critical thinking skills of their students — something sorely lacking in the age of standardized tests — I teach it exclusively. For the past several years I’ve been teaching the Theory of Knowledge, an IB (International Baccalaureate) class for high schoolers that’s part…Education9 min read
Mar 14Member-onlyWould You Marry Someone Who Didn’t Buy You a Diamond?This summer I proposed to my girlfriend in a beautiful, secluded spot in the Ronda, Spain, a place where “The entire town and as far as you can see in any direction is romantic background…”, according to Earnest Hemmingway. We went on a daytime hike around the base of the…Dating6 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Feb 16Member-onlyAirplane Crashes, Loud Americans, and Dating: How the ‘Cultural Free Market’ is Changing the WorldBack in 2013, when I was living in South Korea, a Korean passenger plane crashed in San Francisco. As the initial phase of the investigation ruled out mechanical error, I wasn’t surprised to hear Korean culture mentioned as a possible cause. Korean airlines from the ’70s to the late ’90s…Culture10 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Jan 11Member-onlyHumanity Needs to Innovate, But Capitalism Won’t Let ItCapitalism and its free-market did something amazing for humanity: it brought about the industrial revolution that ended the scarcity of necessities. Where our ancestors often went without their basic needs being met, we can get anything we want delivered to our door and will likely complain if it takes more…Culture8 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Oct 14, 2021Member-onlyA Black Travel Writer Asks: Do Black People Have to be Cultural Relativists?Well, it depends… — “I don’t think I would have finished your book if it had been written by a white man,” my then-girlfriend, now fiance’, told me after reading my first travel memoir. …Race10 min read
Published in The Expat Chronicles·Oct 13, 2021Member-onlyAnthony Bourdain: One of the World’s Great StorytellersIf you ever come to New Orleans, I will take you to my favorite bar. I won’t tell you it’s my favorite, we’ll just go in and hang out for a bit. If you’re my kind of person, and I’ve seen this happen several times, somewhere around your second drink…Anthony Bourdain4 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Sep 30, 2021Member-onlyThe One Reason I’m a Liberal…and everyone else should be one too. Given that politics touches on everything in our lives, whether a person appreciates it or not, I don’t think it’s a wild claim to say that a person’s political beliefs, be they extreme, moderate, or indifferent, are reflective of their core values and…Equality8 min read
Sep 21, 2021Member-onlyThe 13 Types of People You’ll Meet While TravelingIn the course of traveling to more than 60 countries, I’ve met a lot of unique, insanely independent, and remarkably interesting people. That said, many of my trips have also featured plenty of stock characters, too. …Travel6 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Sep 15, 2021Member-onlySeven Things Money Shouldn’t Be Able to BuyJust to drive a stake through the heart of any future political ambition I might someday have, I’ve decided to create the most unAmerican list of things I can think of: a list of things money should not be able to buy. I call this list unAmerican because of how…Capitalism9 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Aug 28, 2021Member-onlyMy Notions of Blackness Died on a Bus in AfricaEarly November meant the southern hemisphere was creeping closer toward summer. Small amounts of rain were already greening up the shrub desert and occasionally perfuming the air with the smell of appreciatively cooled earth. It also meant the already ridiculously hot weather was finding a way to get hotter still…Mwc Death8 min read