Helkin moved to Chicago from Venezuela to study English, with dreams of big city life and plans to return to the company that gave him time off. He ended up falling in love and getting married. I asked why he came out ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“Trembling knees and an unrelenting sense of failure is one way forward.”
Bertrand shared a traditional Italian drink with us from a wooden, six-spouted pot—called La Grolla—one evening in his home in Bordeaux with his girlfriend Anna. We had no idea how rich a story he would tell when we asked what his tattoo means ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“It seemed to me beyond the realms of possibility that I should travel so far.”
Anna was once a stewardess and did something unexpected on her regular route to Kenya, but that's just one small part of her story. She met her boyfriend Bertrand in Australia, when she moved there from Italy because of a tragedy. And we met them when we stayed in their apartment in Bordeaux, France through Airbnb. Nearly every night, they cooked a special dish for us since they're chefs. We couldn't believe our good fortune, asking excitedly how all these travels changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“As often happens with the most beautiful adventures in life, this journey began by chance.”
Tomek visited Frida Kahlo's Blue House in Mexico City, little knowing that I would interview him while we stood in line. I asked him to describe one of her paintings ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“As a matter of fact, there is just as much that is interesting, strange, mysterious, and wonderful; just as much to be learned that is edifying, broadening, and refining in a cabbage as there is in a page of Latin.”
Hamou did not want to share his story with me. This is the first anniversary of The Observer Effect. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“Great eloquence may seem to be inarticulate.”
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.
“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.”
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:
“A sentence starts out like a lone traveler heading into a blizzard at midnight.”
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.
“To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”
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.
“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.”
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.
“Such opportunities can arise only during a conversation.”
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.
“On the first day of our pilgrimage I barely used my camera.”
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.
“Unfortunately, I have gained no wealth to leave my children and descendants except this true story.”
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.
“What happens tomorrow is not always important.”
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.
“Men dig tons of earth to find an ounce of gold.”
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.
“Nothing in the world is as painful as the feeling of not being liked.”
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.
“What I am about to say is so strange that I scarcely know how to make my meaning clear.”
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.
Three organizations that take volunteers and donations in Greece are:
In Chicago, you can volunteer with:
“And why complain of more, why complain of very much more.”
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.
“The new must be dovetailed into the old as it were, if it were to endure.”
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.
“There are people whom we do not fully know, and yet they live in a warm place within us.”
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.
“If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”
