You know that famous scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” where the people inside the restaurant by the gas station are just beginning to understand that the birds have got a mean streak? It’s an amazing piece of screenwriting that makes me think of tax holidays in America. In that scene in “The Birds,” one woman, i.e. the expert, has been insisting that birds of different species don’t have the social network to work together to act aggressively against people. Another insists… Read more

- Text and photos (except Library of Congress photo) GLK. April 2010 – Kings and soldier, emperors and rebels, nobleman and religious leaders, politicians and artists: the cityscapes of Europe are full of them. You see them high on pedestals, on horseback or standing tall in city squares, in parks, by government buildings, in front of churches. They may be proud, heroic, peaceful, dramatic, contemplative, or combative. You don’t always recognize the name. But there he (less often she)… Read more

Jan. 2010 – One reason that a road trip in Europe is such a wondrous experience is that over relatively short distances one encounter different regions, cultures, histories, accents/languages, and cuisines. Over equal distances, those differences are naturally less remarkable in the U.S. due to a briefer, more uniform history, a common language, and the ease with which citizens move and immigrants arrive. Furthermore, we tend to approach American regions from the air rather than from… Read more

“And the girl I was with was really brave. She didn’t cry the whole time. I know she got shot in the back, and I was looking at her in the eyes most of the time when we were under those desks, just, kind of, staying human.” – Said by Clay Violand, a student who survived the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre in his French class, during an interview on NPR, broadcast April 18,… Read more