Coming to Terms with Time

Coming to Terms with Time

An email takes probably 1/5th the time of writing and sending a letter, and yet we spend more time writing emails than we ever spent writing letters. Each individual email becomes less memorable than an individual letter. “We don’t have any time,” writes Hartmut Rosa, “although we’ve gained far more than we needed before.”

Why I still read novels

A friend asked me how and why it is I find the time to still read novels despite the fact that none of us have time to do anything these days. In last week’s New York Times Magazine, A.O. Scott penned an interesting meditation on Susan Sontag’s...

The Art of Kebab, Storytelling

It’s probably not what they’re looking for, but whenever anyone tells me that they are headed to Santorini, my one and only recommendation is that they head to Lucky’s for the world’s best souvlaki. Call it what you will – souvlaki,...

Pro-Craftsmanship, Anti-Virtuosity

I guess I never really explained the backstory of why I’ve been so obsessed about “digital craftsmanship” over the past few months. I had reached a point in my career where I wasn’t sure if I could keep doing this ‘computer thing’....
A View from Bad Gastein

A View from Bad Gastein

It took me a while, but I finally got the hang of producing a QuickTime Virtual Reality 360 degree panorama. To have a look around hover your mouse over the image above, click, and drag it to the right or left. It’s far from perfect – I have to get better...

Photojournalism Workshop in Liberia

I’m back in Liberia with Kathleen Flynn and Ken Harper to help out with some media workshops around town. Today Kathleen and Ken led a workshop at the American embassy library here on photojournalism. (Speaking of photography, what a difference a portrait can...
On Storytelling, Poverty, and Conversation

On Storytelling, Poverty, and Conversation

I have listened to this 13 minute segment of audio three different times now. Each time I hear something different – either a detail that I missed or a tone in her voice revealing the emotion that makes audio such a powerful medium....
Decidedly American Humor

Decidedly American Humor

Today, sitting on a park bench, digging into my first bite of chicken gyro, half a tomato still hanging from my mouth, I began to grin. And then laugh, first on the inside, and then noticeably so. Very noticeable. The laugh turned into a guffaw, turned into hooting,...

[Sunday] Come Walk with Me

Like many, like most I assume, Sundays are my favorite days. The eerie silence that first weighs on you with awkwardness and then picks you up, slowly, like a buoyant body ten feet below a salty sea. The still silence of Sunday morning has the opposite effect of the...