Apr 15, 2023
THE CITY OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS COCHIN IN KERALA
The Anthropologists of Cochin when was the last time you visited a town and ran ino a gaggle of anthropologists?? i am talking about the educated class of Cochin in…
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
Mar 15, 2023
KUALA LUMPUR. A 15 YEAR OLD RETURNS AS AN ADULT . NO NOSTALGIA BUT WITH GOOD REMEMBERANCE
Today has been a wonderful day for me in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, as each of the past few days have been. I do not wish to think of my…
Mar 15, 2023
IF YOU ARE A FRQUENT FLIER, IT IS GOOD TO HAVE STATUS WITH YOUR PREFERRED AIRLINE. IF YOU DONT TRAVEL OFTEN, DONT WORRY
Since the post-pandemic rush to travel took us to busier airports and congested aircrafts, the idea of having a preferred status has come into focus and also to learn about…
Feb 15, 2023
KUALA LUMPUR. 50 % EATING AND 50% SHOPPING
I have never been to a city where every single available public place is crammed with either tables and stalls set up to sell a wide variety of things or…
Feb 15, 2023
A SLOW JOURNEY TO A JOYFUL DESTINATION. MIAMI TO KL VIA NEW YORK CITY AND TOKIO (AND JAKARTA)
Once you taste the benefits of higher levels of Frequent Flier Status, retaining it becomes a type of obsession. You begin to dream of impractical voyages and excuciating journeys and…
Feb 15, 2023
REMNANTS OF THE JEWISH MELLAH OF AZEMOUR , MAROC/MARRUECOS/MOROCCO
AZEMMOUR , city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. In the 15 th century Azemmour was a free city with 20,000 inhabitants, of whom 2,500 were Jews, mainly occupied as…
Jan 15, 2023
WHERE ARE YOU FROM ORIGINALLY? WHAT IS YOUR NATIONALITY ?
This is a question I have heard all my life. The divergence of my body (asian) and mind (post renaissance Europe) and soul (indigenous) confuses many who are used to…
Jan 15, 2023
SHABBAT SHALOM FROM MIAMI BUT WITH A HEAVY HEART
As has been my custom for many years, on Friday Nights, regardless of where I am , Morocco, Malaysia or Miami, I would light candles and recite in Hebrew my…
Jan 15, 2023
I AM THE JEWISH MAQROLL. WELCOME TO MY MAGICAL WORLD
I am all alone in this house, the silence is so welcome. Most but not all, people in America are afraid of silence and they have to keep on chatting,…
Dec 15, 2022
GOOD BYE 2022 A YEAR OF GRATITUDE LET US FORGET GENTLY THOSE WHO CANNOT LOVE US
SONATA WITH SOME PINE TREES BY PABLO NERUDA PABLO NERUDA: Sonata with Some Pine Trees In the half-sun of long days let us draw our tired bones together let us…
Dec 15, 2022
YALDA THE LONGEST NIGHT . LET LIGHT TRIUMPH OVER DARKNESS, IN IRAN AND IN AFGHANISTAN ..INDONESIA ..THE LIST IS LONG
Tonight is 21 december .. it is the night of Yalda .. It is the longest night, full of darkness and this morning when young women went to their universities…
Dec 15, 2022
LIVING THE FRENCH PARADOX, AN EXPLANATION
In 1991, Serge Renaud, a scientist from the University of Bordeaux, coined the term the FRENCH PARADOX, after noting the relatively lower rate of cardiovascular diseases among the French compared…
Dec 15, 2022
TRAVEL GUIDES/COMPANION NEEDED FOR THE FOLLOWING CITIES .. 2023
Anytime I see a List of places to visit in 2023 or something similar, I know those are the places to avoid. Yahoo Lists are hopeless written by people who…
Dec 15, 2022
IF WE APPRECIATE AND BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE, OUR HAPPINESS WILL MAKE OTHERS HAPPY
My UmonHon Indian teacher, Pierre said to me, appropriately after I had hurried to the Clinic of the tribe, without much attention to the blue skies, and an eagle following…
Nov 15, 2022
DOUBLE TREE BY HILTON IN KUALA LUMPUR. THE PLEASURES OF THE EXECUTIVE CLUB ON FLOOR 34
An elderly gentleman, kind and soft spoken with a son in Sydney who is an accountant took me from the airport to the hotel Double Tree by Hilton in Kuala…
Nov 15, 2022
JEWISH PEOPLE BELIEVE THE HEAVEN IS ON THIS EARTH.. I HAVE FOUND A PIECE OF IT AT DOUBLE TREE HOTEL IN KUALA LUMPUR
For a western mind, these sonorous names roll off like dew to a pasture Shalinda, Rosana, Ashikin, Jieha, Mustaqim, Zarina, Odelia Najwa, Ameen but these are the names of some…
Nov 15, 2022
TUK TUK DRIVER OF SIEM REAP IN CAMBODIA.. YON SOKUN
One of the more delightful aspects of traveling is the chance to get to know the people who inhabit in their countries and not in the context of a commercial…
Sep 15, 2022
AS AMERICAN INDIANS SAY WE ARE NOT CLEVER ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND WHEN THINGS HAPPEN. SHANAH TOVA 5783
An alarm was raised about a possible Hurricane approaching Cuba, so I decided to leave for Miami. There I was sitting at the noisy International Departure terminal of Jose Marti…