In the winter of 1979, shortly before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, my family went on holiday in Kabul. We were living in Pakistan at the time and, even though my English grandmother was visiting, my father wanted an adventure. So we piled into our old white Datsun, drove past the pine trees and boulders [...]
Places
The Kabul InterContinental
May 5th, 2008 by EditorsDutch Kiss Inflation
March 7th, 2008 by Editors
Upon first arriving in The Netherlands, I found myself face-to-face with a woman I had a genuine desire to greet warmly. We had corresponded for months via email and we both felt the excitement of witnessing a person, who moments before had been only a name, materialize in the flesh…
My Search for Furamenko
January 18th, 2008 by EditorsSeated at a worn wooden table near the stage of Tablao El Flamenco, a popular dance bar, I have a clear view of the dancers seated onstage. This evening in late August, all five of them have slicked their dark hair into buns secured at the nape of their necks that are adorned with flowers [...]
Stumptown: The Best Coffee in the World
January 18th, 2008 by Editors
Francisco Javier Valle Garcia begins roasting at 6 a.m. every morning at Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon. He’s only 23, yet he’s been roasting for nearly a decade. In his native Nicaragua, coffee is the chief export, and Garcia’s family has grown and harvested it for generations near Jinotega, the principle city in Nicaragua’s North Central Valley…
Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop: A Crossroads
January 17th, 2008 by EditorsGalway is a city on the edge of the ocean and on the edge of Europe. Here, on the west coast of Ireland, the rain-swollen Corrib surges past granite bridges on the way to the Atlantic. For generations, Spanish boats docked here to unload wines and citrus fruits. This was also where Christopher Columbus rested [...]
