We are fortunate to receive a generous gift box from the Antica Farmacia Santa Maria Novella each year from an Italian business associate of Jason’s, stuffed with lotions, potpourri, soaps, candles, and more. I have been a fan for years. I love the stuff. The
Sophie had first mentioned it in a fairly offhand way. “Can you come to a concert on Monday? It’s free.” “Sure!” I said. The timing was perfect for my workday, and the Palazzo Tornabuoni is just around the corner from my rented office space on
It’s been a week and a half since I decided to leave Facebook. I have not yet deleted my account. It is deactivated. I keep thinking I will be in a calmer place to do so. I’d like to do so from a place of
It all began innocently enough, in the fall of 2007, when Jason and I were faculty in residence on campus. In our orientation the year before to our duties as wholesome adults providing non-alcohol-based programming options to undergraduates in university housing, an outgoing professor –
O my people, I read the news and weep. It is hard to watch from here. It is harder still to live it. It does not have to be this way. Can we try some calculations that every other developed nation does not routinely engage
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about cultural expectations – what someone might reasonably expect to happen on a daily basis, living within a culture, and further, which expectations might fracture when the plate shifts, and someone from Culture A finds themselves more or less
The stables were freezing, the violinist said.There was no way they would be able to play for an hour and a half, straight through without intermission. Their hands were cold, and even more importantly, their period string instruments were strung with gut to do justice
How much of one thing equals another thing? This has to be one of the most overarching cultural questions. When we look at or hold something, a thing, a substance, we ask, how much of this thing is equal to this other thing? This varies
You know, it’s the little things. They stick. And because they are so small, and inconsequential, until they are not, they are a rich mine for reflection. I have written here on mundane cross-cultural topics – scarves, laundry. A dentist visit. Things that locals wouldn’t
