Starting in Luxor, we first found our dear dahabiya the Afandina by riding a water taxi across the Nile from the east shore. We discovered it tucked against the shoreline behind two other dahabiyas. The side-by-side rafting necessitated a traverse across the decks of these other two vessels to get…

When we reached the exit from airport security we found our guide Ahmed holding a sign with our names on it, a sight we don’t see very often being generally averse to traveling on tours. He greeted us with “Welcome home!” which I thought was just a charming version of…

Back in the old days (the days are old, not me) I remember lots of discussion about “peer pressure” and whether or not we were being true to ourselves or just trying to stay in some social club. Now of course we’ve put all that behind us and act as…

We enter into another’s suffering at great risk and with uncertain reward. Yet we must go. The only option is the sterile isolation of narcissism. When put that way it is really a necessity rather than a choice that draws us there. Yet it is also the paradox of a…

Our culture is all bollucksed up in confusion and chaos around the concept of individualism. We tend to view it as an unalloyed good. The concept is so ingrained in every aspect of our behavior that any proposal for a program of solving our manifold problems must first clear the…

Driving through Texas is always rough. Traffic is horrendous. And their penchant for having the longest established permanent floating crap game construction zone doesn’t help. A spell of Texas traffic is great for learning all the wrong lessons. I was watching lane-burner-speed-demons fly around me and weave within a hair…

I suppose it was inevitable. We are in a moment with deafness. The Oscar nominated movie “Sound of Metal“ certainly elevated the profile of our awareness of the deaf community. I’m seeing it in social media as well. From YouTube videos like “The Beauty of Being Deaf”, to Tweets, to…

“Because freedums!” has become my go to dunk on unthinking advocates of absolute personal freedom. I use it frequently these days when I see that attitude creating callousness to mass shootings and promulgating spikes in Covid infections. Advocating for sensible boundaries to personal freedom comes off as anti-American for some…

Around the Volcano How long do you need to sit doing nothing before you become extinct? This ancient rock heap in front of me holds that…www.cowango.com How long do you need to sit doing nothing before you become extinct? This ancient rock heap in front of me holds that secret deep inside beneath the earth’s crust. Palo Huerfano, as the caldera in these Picacho Mountains is called, has a 12 million year history of dormancy according…