Episode 38: Thus You Shall Bless—Hawaii, Where Carroll Wanted to See the Stars

Carroll moved from Chicago to Arkansas, then Texas.  I asked why he didn't feel worthy of going on the trip to Hawaii his kids gave him to celebrate his thirty-fifth anniversary ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

— Numbers 6: 24-26

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Episode 37: If You're Going To—Standing Rock, Where Mary Ann Delivered Supplies

Mary Ann wanted to support the effort to block the Dakota Access Pipeline but also wanted to make sure her intent was the right one.  I asked whether going to Standing Rock changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

Whether you go or not, Mary Ann highly recommends reading the Resource Packet at:

Standing Rock Solidarity Network→ 

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“A sentence starts out like a lone traveler heading into a blizzard at midnight.”

— Billy Collins

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Episode 36: Travel Medicine Kit—Madrid, Where Jane Saw a Bullfight

The Hull House Museum in Chicago has one particular item on which they have lavished special attention.  Instead of a paper label stuck to the wall simply telling what the object is, they commissioned a book to draw every visitor into a slow museum experience.  I tracked down and asked its author, Terri Kapsalis, what role travel played in shaping Jane Addams and Hull House ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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Buy Terri's Book: Jane Addams' Travel Medicine Kit→

“To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”

— Seneca

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Episode 35: Afterwardsness—Athens, Where Sigmund's Desire Led Us Astray

The Freud Museum at Berggasse 19 in Vienna showcases among other artifacts from the psychoanalyst's life, his suitcase, stamped with his initials and the name of his adopted city.  They also published a book called Freud's Travels.  I asked what led him to choose travel as one of the defining metaphors of his work ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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Learn about Dominga→

Read Freud's Letter "A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis"→

“Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Episode 34: An Everlasting Itch for Things Remote—Fiji, Where Tim Came Closest to Channeling Melville

The Moby-Dick Marathon draws fans of Herman Melville's classic from all over the world to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts every January to read the great book straight through over 25 glorious hours.  Afterwards, I sat down with a scholar who has taught Melville in Pakistan and led his own life of adventure.  I asked why Melville took that fateful first voyage on the Acushnet in 1840 ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“Such opportunities can arise only during a conversation.”

— Franz Kafka

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Episode 33: Only Go—Ulm, Where Gerald and Franz Start the Camino Each Year

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they have made this an incredible year for us—we collected more than ninety from strangers we met ... Gerald and Franz walk for five days every year along the Camino de Santiago, the traditional route of pilgrims from all over Europe to the western coast of Spain, picking up where they left off the last year.  We asked why they started their pilgrimage ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“On the first day of our pilgrimage I barely used my camera.”

— Patti Smith

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Episode 32: The Dream—Cebu, Where Hitoshi and His Family Began Their Journey Around the World

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they mean so much less absent family ... Hitoshi spent a decade saving for his and his wife Yoko's dream of traveling the world only to realize it with their two little daughters just before they hit school age.  We asked Sana and Rena what their favorite country is ... and hope listening like this makes borders as meaningless to us as they are to them.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

Check out Hitoshi's website→tabikazoku.com

And follow them on Instagram

 

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“Unfortunately, I have gained no wealth to leave my children and descendants except this true story.”

— Bernal Díaz

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Episode 31: Un'emozione gigante—Sauveterre-de-Béarn, Where Giorgio Spent a Nice Night in a Haunted Pension

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, given room, they meander ... Giorgio pivoted from architecture to journalism, now researching and writing novels from his wondrous apartment in one of the more fascinating corners of Rome.  I asked what the abstract painting of a man lying prone in a strange body of water on his wall meant ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  It was a dream his mother had.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“What happens tomorrow is not always important.”

— Primo Levi

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Episode 30: The Narrow Road to the Deep North—Norway, Where Orry Went in Search of Deep Winter

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they move toward ends we hardly anticipate ... I met Orry panning for gold in the Austrian Tyrol.  He taught me the word "petrichor."  I asked him to tell his best travel story ... and he did not disappoint.  We hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“Men dig tons of earth to find an ounce of gold.”

— Heraclitus

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Episode 29: The Ten Pound Poem—Oxford, Where Vixen Found Another Way About

Whether travel poems spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they can chalk truths onto sidewalks we never paid attention to before ... Vixen, Street Poet, wrote me an on-the-spot work when I ran into her in Oxford.  I asked how we can help ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

You can see one of Vixen's poems here.

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“Nothing in the world is as painful as the feeling of not being liked.”

— Sei Shōnagon

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Episode 28: The Home of the Wanted and the Unwanted—Oklahoma, Where Jürgen Got Arrested

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they unlock what the domestic incarcerates ... Jürgen became a US citizen in the Caribbean, nearly missed out on Burning Man, and once got arrested in Oklahoma, but those might not even be his best stories.  We asked how to ameliorate solitude—and find mushrooms—in the Swedish forest where he lives now ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“What I am about to say is so strange that I scarcely know how to make my meaning clear.”

— Boethius

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Episode 27: Lighthouse Relief—Peru, Where Isabel Learned How to Be Happy

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they show us the way ... Isabel coordinated volunteers for Lighthouse Relief in Ritsona refugee camp in Greece, but that wasn't the important part, according to her.  This will be the last in our series of episodes from Ritsona for a while.  We asked refugees to tell us their stories and volunteers to tell us theirs ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Thanks as always to the musician Dana Boulé.

Subscribe in iTunes→

Three organizations that take volunteers and donations in Greece are:

Lighthouse Relief→

I Am You→

Echo 100 Plus→

In Chicago, you can volunteer with:

World Relief→

Heartland Alliance→

“And why complain of more, why complain of very much more.”

— Gertrude Stein

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Episode 26: A Little Light in the Darkness—Greece, Where Hanan Gave Birth

Hanan did not want to give birth in Greece. She crossed from Turkey after escaping Syria while pregnant. Now Ahmed is her happiness. I asked how he was born ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Thanks as always to the musician Dana Boulé.

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“The new must be dovetailed into the old as it were, if it were to endure.”

— Jane Addams

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Episode 25: An Enormous, Deep-Rooted, Foolish Faith in the Benevolence of Fate—Chios, Where Yousef Took His Family in a Rubber Boat

Episode 25: An Enormous, Deep-Rooted, Foolish Faith in the Benevolence of Fate—Chios, Where Yousef Took His Family in a Rubber Boat

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, we navigate by their composition ... Yousef and his wife made the difficult choice to leave Syria with their children four years after their factory and home were burned to charcoal.  They went by rubber boat from Turkey to the island of Chios in Greece.  We asked him to tell us the story ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Thanks as always to the musician Dana Boulé.

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“There are people whom we do not fully know, and yet they live in a warm place within us.”

— Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Episode 24: Another Goal of Unknown Distance—England, Where Travel Saved Alberto's Life

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they save lives sometimes ... Alberto went rogue while volunteering at Ritsona refugee camp, moving into one of the tents to live closer to his new friends.  We followed him there to ask why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Thanks as always to the musician, Dana Boulé.  And a very special thanks to Joan for letting us record him playing saz.

Check out Alberto's podcast for nonconformists at mimundoenlamochila.com.

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“If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

— Robert Capa

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Episode 23: The Death Journey—The Syria-Turkey Border, Where Adnan Stood Up and Yelled

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they make you patient ... Adnan spent 45 days escaping Syria with his four children.  Now he's waiting in Greece to find out where the EU will decide to put them.  We asked our friend Yousef to translate his story ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.

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“We were tired of everything, tired in particular of perforating useless frontiers.”

— Primo Levi

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Episode 22: Solidarité—Ritsona, Where Romane Waited to Volunteer

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they ask patience ... Romane was too young to volunteer at a refugee camp in Greece when she first decided to go.  We asked how she learned to enjoy "giving without receiving" ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled.”

— Paulo Freire

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Episode 21: What Do You Want?—The Syria-Turkey Border, Where Siba Sat Down

Travel stories spring from joy and sorrow, result in change and status quo.  Siba needs to move.  She has been waiting in a refugee camp seven months for her asylum application to be processed by the EU.  She teaches math to children.  She lives with her mother and siblings in a tent.  She studies English.  We did not ask what she wants ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“I could never tell it so that it could be imagined.”

— Dante Alighieri

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Episode 20: I've Been Here—Cairns, Where Ferdi Couchsurfed in the Nude

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they expose ... Ferdinand spent two weeks naked in Australia.  We asked what, if anything, he learned ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.”

— Vincent van Gogh

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Episode 19: A Site of Stoppage—Casablanca, Where Bishupal's Visa Application Was Denied

Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they problematize the word travel ... Bishupal tried to renew his visa to study in the United States, from Morocco; they told him he needed to go back to Nepal.  We asked whether travel really changes people, since he's a professor of postcolonial theory ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”

— Jorge Luis Borges