Any one who thinks they have the ability to understand a culture other than their own is a fool. I remember an old asian hand, who after several miso wari’s (scotch and waters for you non-old asian hands), opined about a common malady of expats who had stayed too long. We called it asian fever, and it happens in other areas of the world as well. He told me that perfect comprehension of the Oriental culture came only when one finally realized that he would never understand. It’s relatively easy to apply that wisdom to eastern cultures, where things really look different, but we often fail to understand that it applies equally to places where things on the...
Let me sum up Paris for you in a word. C’est magnifique. Well, that’s two words I guess. No, really it’s three words. And that’s part of the problem. They speak a very funny language here. It’s sounds good, but it’s impossible to understand, and, god forbid, don’t try to speak it to them. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a bit of a striver for languages, particularly French. I’ve spent more money and time conjugating irregular verbs and trying to understand the subjunctive vs. indicative moods than anyone I know. Alas, it’s all been for naught. My two semesters of college study. My eighteen months of twice weekly tutoring by a very comely...
I don’t know who decided to put JFK at the south eastern end of Long Island, but he surely doesn’t have many friends in those who have had to brave the impossible traffic of the Grand Central and Van Wyk Expressway to get there. Our American Airlines flight was scheduled to depart at 5:45 so I figured, what the hey, leave in plenty time…say 2:30 and don’t sweat it. Great plans of mice and men, or something like that. Our limo was late; only twenty minutes, but that put us dangerously close to the magic 3:00 window for making it through the mid-town tunnel. I debated telling the driver to hit the FDR and the Tri-Borough Bridge (now the RFK), but I...
Ok, I’ll say it out loud. I’m a Democrat who used to be a Republican. I’ve played ball with both teams, so to speak. So when I heard that John McCain had selected Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his vice-presidential running mate my first thought was….”huh?”. There is no question that she changed the character of the 2008 campaign… there still is, however, a big question on whether it was for the better or for the worse. You decide. Her speech on September 3, 2008 at the GOP convention was widely lauded, even by that left leaning rag, The New York Times, as a good, even great, piece of rhetoric. For those...
I’ve struggled to make order out of everything we’ve seen, smelled, and experienced, but I’m afraid that’s well beyond my capability. Two weeks is a short time and India is a big, complex piece of geography, history and humanity. The best I can do is to share some of the impressions we take with us. They are presented here in absolute random order. That is to say I’m writing them down as I think of them which may, or may not, have anything to do with how or when they occurred. I’m writing this as we’re on the way from Paris to Houston, a ten hour daylight flight after a nine hour night time flight which departed Delhi at 1:20 am. So I ask for some...
After 30 years in the world of big business, Gary “retired” to pursue long ignored interests. While continuing his involvement in the corporate world by serving as a director of several public companies, he has, among other things, traveled the world in pursuit of the perfect bird photograph, served national and local charities as a director and donor, developed a personal web site as a platform for his writing on subjects of personal interest, and, occasionally, taken time to smell the roses.
Gary and his wife Sandra, shuttle between their condo in Dallas and their farm in Fannin county, Texas where they indulge themselves in organic gardening, long walks and entertaining friends and family.
