Pick-A-Day

March 2024
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Archives

24: Matthew Shepard

Wow.

Today marks 24 years since Matthew Shepard died.

It remains difficult to write my thoughts about him every year, some of this is because I feel like I am being a bit repetitious, some of it is because I never quite know how to address my feelings about him every year.

It’s not easy […]

Whatchamacallit 88: Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

This book has been mine since when I was born, or thereabout. However, my mother did not leave it in my bedroom: it was always kept in the living room until I was an adult.

The book is signed:

Very special greetings to Adam from his grandparents friends, Edgar and Ingri Parin d’Aulaire

Wikipedia […]

Whatchamacallit 57: Kent Monkman print

I’ve blogged a lot about Kent Monkman – he is, hands down, my favorite living artist.

His work speaks to me on a fundamental level – and I can still remember the feeling I had as I walked into the Canadian artists gallery of the Montreal Museum of Beaux Arts back in August 2014. […]

Whatchamacallit 46: My Khayelitsha Township Painting

In November 2016, I went around the world heading west – although my first stop was distinctly south: Cape Town.

Cape Town is, hands down, one of my favorite cities on the planet – favorite enough that I could totally imagine buying a summer house there. I’ve never had a bad experience in South […]

Whatchamacallit 45: First World War Centenary Lapel Pin (New Zealand)

I visited Auckland in 2015 twice, both times very briefly: the first stop I had a 7-hour layover, the second stop was 25.5 hours.

Neither were really long: with 7 hours – and an early morning arrival – I headed out of the terminal, into the country, visiting, first, a grocery store and, second, […]

Boston Logan 9/11 Memorial

While in Boston, I made a point of visiting the 9/11 Memorial located at Boston Logan Airport.

It is a very nicely done, small, memorial located near Terminal A and the Hilton Hotel.

According to Massport,

Remember this day. This memorial is a place of contemplation, reflection and remembrance for a world impacted by […]

Boston’s Freedom Trail: Simultaneously Genius and Frustrating

I was recently in Boston as part of a trip to New England – this was an opportunity to, first, strengthen my case for having visited Massachusetts (It’s no longer the state that I have spent the least amount of time in; that is now Arkansas) and, second, to walk the Freedom Trail.

The […]

Visiting Gdańsk

May is a month with many legal holidays.

Combining the first one, May 1st, with the last weekend in April, plus taking Monday off, I headed to Gdańsk in Poland. I was sold on Gdańsk because it’s home to the Fahrenheit Memorial. Naturally, it became my first stop, providing me a place in the […]

Soviet War Memorial in Schönholzer Heide

Last Sunday I headed up toward northern Berlin, a part of the city I have not really taken the time to explore. This time I wanted to see the Soviet War Memorial in Schönholzer Heide, one of the three (that I know of) Soviet memorials to World War II in Berlin.

Surprisingly, the […]

My 2017 Western America Tour: Cheerful Colorado History (Not)

When initially planning my trip, I had envisioned going from the Great Sand Dunes to Laramie, Wyoming, taking the mountain route: The Rockies are a dramatic backdrop and there are lots of trails to hike and things to do.

The problem was, I couldn’t identify anything specific that I wanted to do – and instead […]