Teenaged Asylum-Seeker Returns Home to Forge Previously Unthinkable Career
TIRANA, Albania – In my 17th summer, I was preparing for my final year of high school and thinking about which university I wanted to attend. My life was comfortable and secure, my mind untroubled. On a July morning in 1990, 17-year-old Denisa Kaca said good-bye to her parents and two younger brothers and left […]
Technology Enhances Travel, Diminishes Adventure
TIRANA, Albania – Last night, the White Sox beat the Yankees in a 9-8 thriller at the Dyersville, Iowa ballfield made famous in the movie “Field of Dreams.” I knew the instant it happened because I followed the last inning on my phone here in Tirana, where it was 5 a.m. and 4,323 miles away. […]
Long-Awaited Balkans JourneyFinally Achieved 47 Years Later
TIRANA, Albania – Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to type that dateline? I’ll tell you. In 1974, on my first trip overseas, I was standing on a dock in a fishing village in northeast Corfu – a Greek island located between the mainland to the east and Italy to the northwest. […]
Local Vaccine Center Impresses in its Operation
MAUMEE – Ohio — When I arrived at the Lucas County [Ohio] Recreation Center on Feb. 17 at the pre-appointed time for the first of my two COVID vaccine shots, the parking lot was overflowing so I expected chaos and a long wait. What I found was the opposite. In a well-worn exhibition hall the […]
Seeking a Jerk Chicken Grill? See the Metal Man
PORT ANTONIO, Jamaica – I first spot him when we are stuck in evening traffic on one of the main commercial streets in this small coastal town in the northeastern part of the island. My co-host – and driver – Richard notices me watching the man, who is busy wielding a blow torch in a […]
Golf, Poker, Cabin Experience Elevated by Wing’s Chili
What! Another chili recipe? And you’re going to tell us it’s the best ever, right? I’ll let you decide the latter. But I will tell you this is a superb chili with a unique ingredient that sets it apart. More on the surprise ingredient in a minute. First the story of a dish we call […]