Category Archives: Rx for Maladies

The Call of the Adriatic

~~From time to time, I post photographs from friends who are traveling to the world’s remote corners and bringing or sending back photographs.  Today’s wayward photos and words are those of my daughter, Tamar, taken during our trip to Croatia … Continue reading

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In Split, Croatia

~~My friend and colleague A.S. wrote today from Yerevan: “We all live for great food, great stories (to be encountered during our journeys anywhere), and great conversations,” all of which converge when we travel. The story of the day for … Continue reading

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From the Archives–travel: Spain 2

~~ This essay was originally on June 4, 2011, shortly after we had visited Sacromonte inAndalusia.  It was later published on the blog of the radio program “On Being.”  ~~ The Trail to Sacromonte The road may be—and almost always … Continue reading

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Englishing Krikor Beledian

Krikor Beledian is the preeminent Western Armenian man of letters: literary critic, novelist, poet, Beledian has been writing prolifically since the mid 1960s.  Difficult, complex, even “unreadable” by some, Beledian’s writing resists quick passage– from its native Western Armenian to … Continue reading

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Mahmoud Darwish at 75

~~If Mahmoud Darwish were alive, he would be 74 years old today.  That is the best beginning for a blog about Darwish on the occasion of his day of birth.  As the platitude goes, Darwish lives in his poems, but … Continue reading

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Gentle Wind of Ramallah

Last summer, Harvard Bookstore, in Cambridge, MA, sent out a call for submissions for an anthology of travel essays to be compiled, printed, and exhibited by the venerable bookstore.  My essay on Ramallah, Palestine, was chosen to be included in the … Continue reading

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Getting lost in Mount Auburn Cemetery on a late autumn afternoon…

It’s a yearly ritual–this walk in Mount Auburn Cemetery, when autumn is at its glory, but winter is close.  It was such an afternoon–windy and biting–yesterday’s warmth having given way to more cold day.  The cemetery was quiet, save the … Continue reading

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Sossi Madzounian: the Maine horizon

~~Occasionally, I post photographs from friends who are traveling in distant lands or who have evocative images close to home. In February 2014 I posted a collection of photographs from Sossi Madzounian, photographer and friend.  In those photographs, the accent … Continue reading

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Amman rooftops…

~~Our afternoon in Old Amman begins on Rainbow Street, with falafel, at Al-Quds Falafel.  I am told that this hole-in-the-wall with a very amicable falafel maker is the oldest in Amman. His offering is delicious, unpretentious and not heavy on … Continue reading

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In the Jordan Valley…

After a summer break of some two months, Passages Home is back! During these months, I traveled to Jordan and to Palestine.  Access to wifi was slow, border crossings were frustrating, and the general mood of the people was wistful … Continue reading

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