Here's a photo of a group of children playing a lively game of cards in a hutong, or alleyway, the traditional housing area of Beijing. I'd read about how the hutongs were being torn down in preparation for the Olympics and was worried about this, but there are many still very much alive and well. They
Originally published 30 August 2006, and updated in 2020. First day of a trade fair is ridiculously intense, and in Beijing that's magnified. I'm rushing off to another dinner but want to post a couple photographs. First, of the banquet last night in the Great Hall of the People, built in 1959 by Mao, on
I don't know how you feel about spending the day listening to people read speeches. I went to a college with no lecture classes, and I am not sure I've ever attended a lecture class.No, that's not true. I went to physics lectures at Harvard Summer School. And they were more fun than the Beijing International
On my other trips to Asia I've plunged straight into business within an hour of arrival, so I was determined to have some transition time on this trip--that jet lag feeling of not really being in my own skin isn't how I wanted to start this new exploration of China. I allowed a whole Sunday
I'm blogging in haste from Narita Airport in Tokyo, en route to China, and here's a link I've been meaning to pass along: SustainableWebsites, Green Web Hosting. We're planning to look into this at the office, and I've heard good reports. More from China, as I meet with environmentalists there.
I don't object to a stopover at Narita, the airport in Tokyo. It's a chance to have some Japanese food in an airport cafeteria (I choose the most exotic meal on offer, grilled eel, since we have plenty of sushi in Great Barrington). More important, I get to experience a civilized airport culture, and pleasant manners
I'm not known for my expertise on popular culture (unlike editor Marcy Ross, whose knowledge is breathtaking), and what I do know is completely random (and bicultural, because I lived in England from my late teens to early thirties). At an American Library Association conference a couple years ago, David and I were walking up to
We've been delving into much of Berkshire County's history working on African American Heritage in the Upper Housatonic Valley. But yesterday Liz Steffey and I went a step further into the area's history, when we were introduced to the descendents of the original Berkshire residents, members of the Mohican Nation, known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. A
I seem to be writing a lot about interdisciplinary thinking these days, a good thing considering the work we’re undertaking on the future, and sustainability! The latest article is called “Marvin Mudrick and his Chickens,” and I wrote this one for the UCSB Coastlines magazine. I graduated from the College of Creative Studies at UCSB, and
I seem to be writing a lot about interdisciplinary thinking these days, a good thing considering the work we’re undertaking on the future, and sustainability! The latest article is called “Marvin Mudrick and his Chickens,” and I wrote this one for the UCSB Coastlines magazine. I graduated from the College of Creative Studies at UCSB, and
