When friends ask, what was my favorite thing about our month in Italy, my answer may be a surprise. For it’s not the stunning Tuscan countryside, the sumptuous food, the laid-back lifestyle. No, it’s not even the delectable Montepulciano … Read more

    Sunrise and moonset. At the same moment; precious and rare. Thus, the morning concert begins: A church bell peals. A rooster crows. A dove coos. A dog barks. And Franco trundles down the steep driveway with his dawn … Read more

    Writing from Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy, where we have returned for the fourth time.   The learning of names, the remembering of their weight, tone and heft, the who of the where — is not unlike learning new students’ … Read more

  Why anyone would come all the way to lovely Barcelona to write about semi-colons is lost on this writer; I didn’t set out to do this. Rather, I’m just responding to a challenge from a grammar-wonky friend who inquired: … Read more

  It’s never too late — to be a classmate!   The newly formed Lincoln High School-Chapel Hill High School Joint Alumni Association presented its first round of annual community service awards to three local recent high school graduates on … Read more

  With China on my arm… “Stay this moment.” –Sam Abel National Geographic photographer   An unfortunate nighttime encounter with a bathroom doorjamb has rendered me with a sizeable purplish bruise on the left inner forearm. Upon reflection, it strikes … Read more

(Dear reader: It is said that there’s no sound so precious as that of one’s own name. Then imagine my surprise and emotions when years ago I was introduced to a large audience of Chinese students as “Mr. Joke.”  Somehow, … Read more

This legacy post from May 2013 serves as a helpful backgrounder for the first-time reader of this writer’s work in China.   On this rainy Saturday in old Chongqing my host students take me to visit an ancient restored village … Read more

  To China this time I have brought the Soul of America. Literally, in the form of Jon Meacham’s new bestseller of the same name, subtitled, “The Battle for Our Better Angels.” The jacket notes explain, “We have been here … Read more

  A Chongqing photo portfolio; a work-in-progress. Scenes from spring commencement with students posing proudly in front of the library or leaping for joy by the iconic “Book of Law” at Southwest University of Political Science and Law remind us … Read more