103 Burnout—Oaxaca, Where Meghan Recovered

Meghan had an epiphany in Mexico. I asked whether it’s possible to bring her insight back into settled life ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

Consider donating to Westin's Fund, a charity that covers the costs for grieving parents related to miscarriages and stillbirths:

“Les soins accordés au malade, l’accueil offert au proscrit, le pardon même ne valent que grâce au sourire qui éclaire la fête. Nous nous rejoignons dans le sourire au-dessus des langages, des castes, des partis. Nous sommes les fidèles d’une même Église, tel et ses coutumes, moi et les miennes.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

102 One Twenty-Fifth of a Second—Yugoslavia, Where Wade Photographed War

Wade Goddard established a museum for war photography that you must visit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, War Photo Limited. He came to Yugoslavia in the 90s. I asked what it was like to travel in a country that no longer exists ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

“Is there a time for keeping your distance?”

— U2

101 Celebration of Life Festival—The Mississippi, Where Z Parted the Clouds

Z spent some time traveling in a band, so naturally, I asked whether that changed him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

Consider donating to Westin's Fund, a charity that covers the costs for grieving parents related to miscarriages and stillbirths:

“Are you not moved, when all the sway of earth shakes like a thing unfirm?”

— Shakespeare

100 And Who Is My Neighbor?—Chicago, Where Martin Failed

Martin Luther King, Jr. moved to Chicago in 1966 to try to end slums. I did not know until a few years ago, so I went to the spot where he lived and asked Trevor Riley, the community organizer in charge of the MLK Fair Housing Exhibit Center at the MLK Legacy Apartments in North Lawndale to tell the story of that campaign ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

“The human spirit does not move without great difficulty.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

99 The Art of Conversation—Muine Gall, Where Barack Traced His Roots

President Obama visited his ancestral village to learn about where his family came from. I asked a local there to tell me what that day was like ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

98 Writ in Water—Rome, Where John Died

The Keats-Shelley House in Rome overlooks the Spanish Steps where the great English poet John Keats lived his final days. I asked its director, Dr. Giuseppe Albano, what moved Keats  ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

Visit the Keats-Shelley House.

Listen to Eltaj's story of visiting there in Episode 92: The Wave and Sea.

“Who reads into distances reads beyond us.”

— Seamus Heaney

97 A Time for War—Idaho, Where Ernest Lost His Memories

Ernest Hemingway lived in Chicago, Italy, Kansas City, Paris, Toronto, Arkansas, Spain, Cuba, Florida, and finally, Idaho. I asked Nancy Sindelar, whose recent book Influencing Hemingway traces how these places and other factors might have shaped his writing, what moved him to travel so much ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.

You can find Nancy Sindelar's Influencing Hemingway: People and Places that Shaped His Life and Work on Amazon by clicking here.

Or you can visit her website: nancysindelar.com.

Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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"Se vuelve de la inspiración como se vuelve de un país extranjero. El poema es la narración del viaje."

—Federico García Lorca

96 Cara de Bobo—Mexico City, Where Gabo Read Kafka

Gabriel García Márquez began his writing career in Cartagena, Colombia, but it took him all over the world. I asked a guide there, Duran Duran, to tell me what exactly happened during his exile in Mexico City that made Márquez sequester himself to write his great book One Hundred Years of Solitude ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to Duran Duran for so meticulously researching Márquez's life and literature to make the tour so satisfying. And special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

“K. kept feeling that he had lost himself, or was further away in a strange land than anyone had ever been before, a distant country where even the air was unlike the air at home, where you were likely to stifle in the strangeness of it, yet such were its senseless lures that you could only go on, losing your way even more.”

— Franz Kafka

95 The Universal Particular—Dublin, Where James Etched His Heart

James Joyce never lived in Dublin again once he left yet poured all he knew of the city into his masterpiece Ulysses. I asked the Friends of the Joyce Tower Society in Sandycove, where the novel begins, just exactly how this self-imposed exile shaped Joyce's art ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to James Holahan for his wonderful skill at bringing Joyce and Ulysses to life. And special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

“A way a lone a last a loved a long.”

— James Joyce

94 First Sighting of the Sea—Valparaíso, Where Pablo Brought 2,000 Refugees

Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago, Chile has been preserved as a museum, called La Chascona. I asked Javier Ormeño Bustos to explain how travel shaped the great poet's life ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

You can learn more about the events described in this episode at the following links:

The general context and implications of the Spanish refugees in France: 

https://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/03/inenglish/1441275302_272830.html

A testimony in English by one of the refugees, Elena Castedo:

http://www.elenacastedo.com/blog.htm?post=633104

Some articles of Winnipeg on wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Winnipeg

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaje_del_Winnipeg_de_1939

A very good site on the Winnipeg, curated by the National Library of Chile:

http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-732.html

An article by Neruda himself on the Winnipeg.

http://pablo-neruda2-france.blogspot.cl/2009/06/el-winnipeg-y-otros-poemas.html

“My spirit has pass’d in compassion and determination around the whole earth, I have look’d for equals and lovers and found them ready for me in all lands …”

— Walt Whitman

93 NGO Hopping—India, Where Mathias Led His Blind Great-Grandfather

Mathias first went with his great-grandfather to India at age 7, but that's only one of the many stories he told me about his travels and how they have fed into all the aid work he does now. I asked where we can find more information about his projects ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

Visit his social media services company at SuperSocial.at.

Visit his social change project at DigitalParticipationCamp.org.

“I say friends in the larger sense of the word: persons seen only once or frequented my whole life: provided that between us, at least for a moment, a string stretched, a well-defined thread.”

— Primo Levi

92 The Wave and Sea—Europe, Where Eltaj Wants to be a Famous Writer

Eltaj left Sudan and crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, where we met in a small migrant camp at an abandoned train station in Rome. I asked if he wanted to visit the Keats-Shelley House together ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

“Sus sueños terminaban frente a ese mar color de ceniza, espumoso y sucio, que no merecía los riesgos y sacrificios de su aventura.”

— Gabriel García Márquez

91 The Persistence of Memory—Sardinia, Where Majda Took Dragan

Majda took us into her home in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina with a glass of grappa. I asked why she had to rebuild that home ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

“Di noi ciascuno reca l’impronta dell’amico incontrato per via; in ognuno la traccia di ognuno.”

— Primo Levi

90 Certain Half-Deserted Streets—Amsterdam, Where Ilmari Could Feel Something

Ilmari describes himself as an Eskimo with blond hair. We met in the Sahara Desert. I asked if reindeer and the Northern Lights really played a large role in his life growing up in Lapland ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“Shame is thrown aside when one travels.”

— Jippensha Ikku

89 One Thousand Degrees of Heat—Merzouga, Where Ilham Fell Down a Sand Dune

Ilham did everything she could to live in Marrakesh. I asked how to make lemon saffron chicken tajine ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

This is the Two Year Anniversary of the Observer Effect!

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“Follow the curve of the sentence wherever it might lead, into deserts, under drifts of sand.”

— Virginia Woolf

88 A Small Dot on the Horizon—Syria, Where Johan Went to Counter Prejudice

Johan coordinated volunteers at a refugee camp in Greece. I asked why he had moved from Sweden to Syria previously ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“The truth is a pathless land.”

— Tiziano Terzani

87 Asylum—Sweden, Where Ibrahim Is Waiting

Ibrahim escaped Eritrea through the Sahara Desert hidden in the back of a car, crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy crowded into a boat, and now waits in Sweden studying in an old schoolhouse. I asked what language he speaks ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“I didn’t make such an endless journey just to be sent back again now.”

— Franz Kafka

86 A Forlorn Émigré—Guantanamo, Where Alanka Can't Talk About

Alanka could only briefly share a few impressions of Cuba, but the real story is how he and his family got out, and even better what happened in Japan. I asked how these places shaped him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“All the interest we had felt in the place was gone, and we only wanted to get away.”

— John L. Stephens

85 The Tear, the Kick, and L'Abri—Malta, Where Marsh Grew Up

Marsh spent decades smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. We met at L'Abri, a quiet home in the English countryside, where people come to sort out their questions about God. I asked what was the most memorable ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na doine.”

83 The Online Student—London, Where Mohammad and I Met Up

Mohammad flew to London from Kuwait while I happened to be there too, so we met in person for the first time and had coffee together. I asked if he likes to travel ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.  Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.

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“It is only when you meet someone from a different culture from yourself that you begin to realise what your own beliefs really are.”

— George Orwell