new age of enlightenment
Last Tuesday my home state of North Carolina decided to rescind its status as the most progressive state in the South and voted an amendment into the state constitution banning gay marriage. Needless to say, I was a bit more than disappointed. The whole world got to see that my state is full of bigots and homophobes for 15 minutes, well, at least 60% of it anyway. But, a hopeful but, it made me realize a positive trend.
night at the nations
I don’t dance. I stand awkwardly by the bar, that’s my move. A sort of “build it and they will come” strategy, if you will. But tonight, as with a few crisp Swedish nights before it, I feel compelled. Once Ricky hands out shots of aquavit to Bjarni and I, it seems imminent. The three of us raise our glasses in a ritual to invoke the spirit of the nations to surround us. ”Skål!” It has begun.
people are people
If there is one thing I have learned through travel, it’s that wherever you go, people are just people. For all the different countries and cultures in the world, we all have more in common with each other than we do differences. This is something that I’m still discovering through interaction, pub rounds, and over many a fika.
