Empty Nest Expat

Empty Nest? Not All Parents Are Sad About It

2011-10-10T21:17:00.000+02:00

You've heard and read about helicopter parents, right? The kind of Mom or Dad who micromanages their children's lives so little Jr. never makes a mistake and experiences failure. The rest of us don't get much press. Today's New York Times has a great article about parents who feel "job well done - so what's the next chapter of my life?" Click here to read the article.

A Birthday Hike in the Belgrad Forest

2011-09-15T05:27:00.000+02:00

The entrance to the

Belgrad Forest

Back in Istanbul, after a week in France, I was excited to see that a Turkish friend was organizing a hike in the Belgrad Forest. It was scheduled to be on my birthday. As nature can often seem far, far away in Istanbul, I loved the idea of spending my birthday meeting new people by going on a hike.

Aren't you grateful for friends that take the time to organize things? They always deserve a little extra appreciation, don't they? Yasemin, my Turkish friend who put this together, hadn't hiked here before, but she did all the work of finding out what bus to take, where it leaves from, how often it leaves, etc. When someone has done all of that work, it makes it so easy for the rest of us to go out and discover new places and opportunities, doesn't it? If you're one of those people who are always connecting others by organizing events, thank you!

To give you an idea of what a commitment it is to get to an event in Istanbul, I took a bus to Taksim Square (50 minutes), and then got on the 42T bus to go to the Belgrad Forest (another 50 minutes). That second bus has a route all along the Bosporus, so it often seems like I'm getting a sightseeing tour at a municipal bus price! The scenery was fantastic, and since another hiker from France and I guessed we were each going to the same hike and started talking, so was the company. The 50 minutes flew by. We got to the end of the line of the 42T and there was the forest! After paying a 2.25 TL entrance fee ($1.27) we were in.

It's not every forest

that has a cafe

with checkered tablecloths

Or horses and bicycles to rent

Paths were wide enough

for all kinds of traffic:

foot, hoof, or wheeled

Yasemin, our organizer,

is the tall woman in green

in the middle.

Fun folks I met:

Jackie, a fashion designer from Ireland

and Ibrahim, an importer/exporter from Turkey

Beautiful, isn't it?

We were surprised the park was so deserted.

It was the middle of Ramadan though.

Anyone fasting couldn't even

take so much as a drop of water.

Not good conditions for locals to go hiking.

Another view of the beautiful lake

in the middle of the park.

The forest paths were so beautifully maintained

it was as if we were the first people to use them.

It turns out we were.

We came across a maintenance crew laying down

rubber backing (like under carpet)

and then covering it with this natural material.

If you are a runner,

this would be a very healthy place to run.

The path was springy and easy on the joints.

The majority of our group
headed back to Istanbul.
I finished our hike around the lake
with Misty and Kristin,
two fun American women
I was meeting
for the first time.

A last calming view of natural beauty.

What a terrific resource this forest

is for the urban dwellers of Istanbul!

The view as the municipal bus starts back to Istanbul.

This is an Ottoman-era grove of trees.

In France and in Turkey, I kept coming across these

magnificent tree groves planted under

authoritarianism forms of government.

I kept wondering if democracies

could create such gorgeous groves

for future generations.

Are there any where you live?

Planting groves like this

requires a long-term view,

doesn't it?

In my country,

people often don't seem to want to invest tax money

for those living alongside them,

let alone those who aren't even born yet.

On the bus back,

Kirstin and Misty talked up Mehmet's,

their favorite kebabci in the

Istanbul neighborhood of Ortaköy

with such gastronomic fervor

I had to try it for myself, no?

We ate fabulous Turkish comfort food

(mine was chicken shish kebab).

They introduced me to "ezme,"

which they described as a Turkish version of salsa.

On the hike,

these two hip, happening, can-do women

mentioned that they were organizing

a trip to Bulgaria...

Last Meal in the Lubéron

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000+02:00

After a week of getting to enjoy my best friend from college, Robin, and her husband Jim, it was time to go home to Istanbul. I have never been around someone recovering from chronic illness. Jim amazed me with his ability to withstand the everyday discomforts of his recovery with good humor.

I kept asking myself, "would I be able to be as pleasant to be around, as he is, if I was in his shoes?" Because Jim's lack of balance, post brain-surgery, makes it hard for him to leave the house or even walk from room to room, Robin puts lots of thought and effort into how to bring the world to him. I hope I helped in some small way.

I asked her, "how would you take care of him physically if you didn't have access to your resources?" She said, with emphasis, "I have no idea." We were silent for a moment in complete acknowledgement of how hard it must be for those struggling with brain-tumor recovery in their family but no ability to hire someone to come in and help.

Life can be pretty easy when nothing is going wrong. When everything is going ok, it's easy not to think about what would be needed when catastrophe strikes. Robin is my second friend from the same Women's College we went to who has had a husband with a brain tumor. Luckily, my other friend's husband was French, and he received outstanding care that his wife, an American, raved about. But what about those Americans at home coping with something so completely over-the-top health-wise as a brain tumor? What about those Americans with inadequate health insurance coverage or no coverage? How do they do it?

I can't help but think Europeans have the answer and show an incredible REAL sense of community with their willingness to extend significant resources toward each other when their health needs help. Everything I have learned as an expat has made me believe in the European version of health care rather than the American version. The Europeans have it figured out. It's not just an anecdote, the data about who lives the longest backs them up.

Lunch al fresco

amidst life-long friends,

with amazing comfort food,

and wonderful French wine.

I will NOT THINK ABOUT

the fact that the chicken's feet

are still there.

Yikes, there they are.

I'D RATHER THINK ABOUT

all the lemons that were used

to stuff him inside.

There are the lemons: peeking out.

Thank you, my dear, dear friends

for a wonderful week

in your beloved Provence.

Until we meet again,

most probably,

in Singapore.

Bisous!

Taking in the Provencal Village Charm of Cadenet, France

2011-08-27T05:24:00.000+02:00

Who can resist the charm

of the plantain tree in the South of France?

I loved the idea of their legacy.

Everyone can plant a single tree

for future generations.

But do we?

Some can even plant more

and exponentially increase beauty.

I could not get enough of these trees.

They had such a peaceful quality

and their aging mottled skin inspired me.

Outside the village post office.

Notice the Liberte stamp representation

near the entrance.

A typical charming Cadenet exterior.

Shutters and windows of a certain size

are used everywhere.

In all colors.

The inviting flowered fence (above) and

exterior (below) of the Mayor's Office.

I believe this sign says that

Napoleon's drummer boy

was born in this home.

I knew this famous name from history:

Victor Hugo, the author of

The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The hardware store merchants

were neighborly.

Sometimes it was just fun to decipher a

French sign like this one:

Maison des Anciens

Or chat up the locals.

I loved the beans hanging down

from this French vine.

The French insistence on continuing

a unified Provencal "look"

did create charm.

The cherished their Provencal history

and prioritized it higher

than an individual homeowner's desire

to make grand changes to their houses.

The French, who prize individual liberty

as much as any American,

know that sometimes agreeing

to the common good

(in this case, strict controls on the look of housing)

creates something greater than we can do so individually.

The Best View in Cadenet, France is Now Free to All

2011-08-25T05:28:00.000+02:00

On the road to La Mourrade

there is a turn-off for the ruins

of an old chateau with the best view

of the Lubéron.

The ruins of the old chateau include a pool.

We got a kick out the fact that it continued

to exist uncovered

when citizens have to cover

their swimming pools nightly

per EU safety regulations.

As we walked to the chateau

we looked back toward the town of Cadenet

to take in the beautiful village steeple.

This walk was the ultimate playground

for European children.

What child could not grow their imagination

in these surroundings?

Do you think there might be trolls down there?

To get to the chateau when it was active

required crossing the moat.

A nice bridge helps today.

The view of the moat and the bridge from below.

Maybe trolls lives here?

Looking down at the scenic village of Cadenet

and the nearby sunflower fields.

The view of the Luberon valley went on for miles.

It was magnificent.

Robin told me the reason this chateau

was now a ruin was the people of France

attacked it with pick axes during the Revolution.

That gave me pause.

The American people are pretty politically angry right now

but not THAT angry.

Wow, imagine what it would take for folks

to be THAT angry

they are inspired to

bring down a chateau with pickaxes.

It kind of keeps things in perspective, no?

How far do you think that is?

10-15 miles?

Looking down at the village bells.

Jim had told me the village experimented with

eliminating them

for three months but

everyone wanted them to ring again.

When men are out in the olive groves,

they hear it ring on the hour once

but they don't catch the exact number of rings.

They then listen for the bells to ring a second time

to actually learn the exact hour.

If it is time to go home,

they go wait

by the side of the road

for their wives to pick them up.

Even laundry is pretty in France!

We started to encounter houses as

we walked down toward the village.

We descended into Cadenet to continue

walking around the village and to enjoy a local cafe.

May American liability lawyers never discover this place.

Ssshhh, don't tell them.

What is a cèpe exactly?

2011-08-24T05:43:00.002+02:00

Salad without "bite"

Not everything attempted in the La Mouradde kitchen turned out. I made a beautiful salad with all of the magnificent vegetables and lettuce we got down in the market. The salad was pretty, but the dressing I put together of oil and sherry vinegar was boring. Robin suggested it needed some mustard to give it some bite.

A recipe that didn't work

This year, I've been trying to cook with eggplant because it is a vegetable underused by Americans, it is a staple of Mediterranean cuisine, and besides all that, it is very pretty. I tried to make a Provencal entree of roast eggplant slices, slathered in goat cheese, and covered in diced tomatoes and basil. It was boring. So my whole lunch was boring because both salad and entree were boring.

Eggplant tapenade

with sliced anchovies

I swear though, in France, even the leftovers are better. My college friend and hostess, Robin, took my uneaten eggplant dish, pureed it, and made a delicious eggplant tapenade out of it.

Cèpes for sale at the market

She took our leftover veal roast and put it around a giant cèpe mushroom along with root vegetables and roasted them. I had never even heard of cèpes, but I have since learned from Wikipedia that they go by the name of porcini mushrooms in the States. Still, I don't believe I had ever eaten them fresh.

The giant thing in the middle

is a large cèpe mushroom

surrounded by veal roast, potatoes,

fresh thyme and other spices.

Who doesn't like to unwrap something?

It may look a bit of a mess

straight out of the foil,

but those veal bits and the mushroom were so moist

and the au jus was ambrosial

with the potatoes

The end of another

satisfying meal

at my friend Robin's house.

Provencal Breakfasts to Savor

2011-08-23T07:59:00.005+02:00

Sunrise from my bedroom window

at La Mourrade

Cadenet, France

It's fun to know someone 34 years and still make discoveries about them. I didn't know what an outstanding cook my Cottey College friend Robin was until this trip.

Apricot and White Peach tart

One morning Robin asked me to make breakfast and suggested an apricot tart. "Just use the purchased puff pastry to make your crust, lay down some fromage blanc, the apricots, and voila!" I don't think fromage blanc is sold in American grocery stores. What a useful substance. It's a soft, creamy cheese with the consistency of sour cream. It was perfect "glue" for fresh Provencal fruit.

Breakfast on the terrace

was such a lovely way to start the day

Wow! Apricots warmed explode with flavor in your mouth. Oh my, this was good. And so simple! We decided to keep the warmed fruit theme going. Robin made a tart with fresh figs and fresh lavender sprinkled throughout. The lavender was astonishing because it was such concentrated, intense flavor and then a bite of warm, yummy fig came next. Both of these tarts were keepers!

Fig and Lavender Tart

Apricot, white peach, and black currant tart

Another tart Robin made was with apricots, white peaches, and black currants. The black currants had to be used judiciously because they must have had very low sugar. But it's the warmth of those fruit flavors exploding that make these tarts so delicious.

French omelet made with
truffle paste and ham
from the Loumarin market.

We didn't have tarts every single morning. As someone who rarely gets pork in Istanbul, I appreciated this French omelet stuffed with ham from the market and truffle paste with a side of delicious bacon.

I learned on this trip that truffle paste is such an easy way to dress up everyday ingredients like potatoes and eggs and the result is laudable. Robin said many times during the week that Provencal cooking is "basically using wonderful ingredients and not screwing them up."

My First Provencal Market at Loumarin

2011-08-22T18:03:00.038+02:00

If boutique farmers who sell their produce at farmer's markets in poly-cultural agricultural regions like Provence are rock stars, and the farmer's market ends up being like the rock concert where everyone comes to celebrate the farmer's productivity and applaud and purchase his or her work, it was only fitting then that our visit to a Provencal market began with a search for a parking place far from the market. My friend Robin had a long walk in to the main event as she parked our car - just like a rock concert!

We waited patiently

with fresh croissants in the cafe.

In Provence, every village has their market on a different day. No matter what day it is you can find a small market or a big market to feed your body and soul. The market at Loumarin seemed like the very lollapalooza of markets that I sampled.

Shall we try the tomato tart?

Underneath the magnificent boulevard of plantain trees that past generations of French people had planted as gifts to their future citizens, the individual stalls were magnetic with smells, with visual aesthetics, with local traditional foods and products.

At each counter waiting to buy, there would be several glamourously-dressed French people who had done their part to complete the composed picture of beautiful landscape, beautiful weather, beautiful setting, beautiful products, and beautiful smells.

Mmmm, all my favorite flavors.

I bet that's goat cheese.

When a small village of less than 1,011 people can create a farmer's market that is admired throughout the world, you know it has to be spectacular. Indeed so enticing were the products and people and smells that I was quickly overloaded with both hands full of packages within 15 minutes. I think I probably only took in 25% of the actual market!

Look at how beautifully they

wrap up our lemon tarts.

Who doesn't come home from France

bubbling about the bread?
Robin would buy bread from this baker
and his daughter every week.

Nougat of Provence

a famous specialty made with

honey, sugar, egg whites, and almonds.

French macaroons!

French cheese in all of its

spectacular variety

Thinly-sliced ham
to take home

Doesn't this make you want to find
an exotic recipe for each exotic spice?

Remember when grocery stores
doubled their pepper offerings
by offering both white and black pepper?
Yes, you wouldn't be wrong
to think it would be awfully hard to choose
between 18 different peppers.

Tomato, fig, cherry, apricot
jams and marmalades.

Our biceps burned! There is so much more to this market I didn't get to photograph because how can you lift your camera when you're loaded down with goodies? Were I to go back, I would love to buy every member of my family a Provencal tablecloth. Their cheery designs are so specific to Provence and the prices are a wonderful value.

There were also olive and mushroom tappanades that would have been lovely to take home to Istanbul, beautiful handmade soaps, especially those made with redolent Provencal lavender, plus thousands of chi-chi straw "market" shopping bags.

I also didn't experience the fish counter because, well, that was an endurance test all in itself. All of France goes on vacation simultaneously every August, they could have all been in line at that fish stall! And this wasn't even the weekend.

Later that night:

Beef steak recommended by the Cadenet butcher

as his own personal favorite cut,

slathered in mushrooms and onions,

with hericots verts (thinner French green beans)

& mashed potatoes laced with truffle paste.

Rendevous at La Maison Rouge

2011-08-16T19:12:00.000+02:00

La Maison Rouge

My friend Robin and Jim have had a home in the South of France for over 14 years. They haven't always lived at La Mouradde. Before that, they owned a home in the village proper of Cadenet, France, called La Maison Rouge.

Seeing this pretty little home, in person, really for the first time, made me realize that there were many years when Robin and I were just too busy to properly communicate. I don't think I had ever even seen a picture of this exquisite gem. How could it be that she lived here and I never came to visit?

Years of active parenting tend to block all other activities out. Seeing this house was a reminder of the importance of grabbing time with friends when you can, because you never know when you can't. One of the pleasures of an empty nest is the time available to enjoy and renew old friendships.

This door knocker

could inspire the beginning of a novel,

don't you think?

The dramatic properties of La Maison Rouge must appeal to Hollywood too, since they came a'calling to film exteriors for a Demi Moore movie called "Passions of the Mind" while Robin and Jim owned the property.

If you haven't heard of the movie, don't be surprised, as it grossed less than $1,000,000. Robin said there's about 18 seconds of her old house on the screen.

"Meet Me in the Cafe"

Immediately to the right of La Maison Rouge as you looked at the front of the house, was a little public square. On one side, was the much appreciated village butcher, on the other a little cafe, and in the middle, a public fountain. What a cozy village existence!

The bartender was surprised to hear

an American order pastis.
Americans often don't respond well
to this French drink tasting of black licorice.

It felt so good to just have

long, unhurried conversations

with my friend.

Is there a friend you miss

you should hold fast?

Don't take them for granted.

Provence Inspires Me to Make My First Tart

2011-08-15T06:24:00.001+02:00

Creating a Leek and Dried Morel Tart

My college friend Robin said, "People ask, what do you do in Provence? I always answer not much: go to the Provencal markets, bring home food, cook, do it again the next day."

There is something about Provence, because it is a poly-culture agricultural environment, that brings out the cooking creativity, passion, and endless enthusiasm for cooking in everyone who lives there, regardless of nationality.

What is a poly-culture agriculture environment? The example I know best and have lived personally is Madison, Wisconsin. It has endless small family boutique food producers making small volumes of amazing specialty items. These local farmers are rock stars in the community and the farmer's market is equivalent to a concert where everyone comes and applauds.

On the other hand, a mono-culture farm environment is like my home state of Iowa with lots of corporate farms producing one crop. It doesn't create the same enthusiasm to take everything home and cook it up. You can't anyway, because they're raising grain for livestock.

To aid her in her cooking quests, my college friend Robin has collected cookbooks from all over the world in multiple languages while she was working all over the world. I could pour over cookbooks for hours, couldn't you? So many of her books were new to me. One that she particularly used a lot was by Stephanie Alexander named "A Cook's Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen." Robin specifically enjoyed that all the recipes were organized around their main ingredient.

I found myself responding to the daydream-inspiring cookbook "The Food and Flavors of Haute Provence" by Georgeann Brennan. What a gorgeous, easy-to-use book!

The smells! Oh, the smells!

Leek and Dried Morel Tart

Right out of the Oven

On one of my first nights there, Robin and Jim invited over lovely friends for a dinner party al fresco. While Robin prepared a magnificent veal roast, with beautiful potatoes and roasted fennel, I had picked out a recipe based on a single ingredient Jim and Robin had in abundance. They had a friend in Malaysia who happened to be the world's largest exporter of morel mushrooms. He had given them 4.5 kilos of dried morels for their own cooking. As you can imagine, a dried morel mushroom does not weigh very much so the supply of this tasty mushroom was unusually large and just waiting for me to cook with it!

I've had veal, but can't say I've had a veal roast before this. It had been prepared with care by her local Cadenet butcher. Have you tried roasted fennel? This was something new to me too. It was delicious, so easy (she just sliced it in half, spiced it, and stuck it in the oven). Plus, it's so healthy and pretty on the plate!

The veal roast ready for carving

Robin's husband Jim

carves the roast

while Mark, a local winemaker, looks on

Leek and Morel Mushroom Tart

Page 113, "The Food and Flavors of Haute Provence"

Although puff pastry, leeks, and dried morel mushrooms are the components of the tart, this is a versatile dish in which many substitutes are possible. In France, supermarkets, even the small ones in the rural areas, have fesh or frozen puff pastry, which is also available in the United States, but not as readily. Pizza dough is an alternative to the puff pastry. Unlike puff pastry, it is easily made even by the most unskilled hands.

The delectable topping, with its undertone of sweetness from the leeks' natural sugar, is made of thin slices of leeks that have been simmered in a little butter, then combined with fresh goat cheese and rehydrated morels and seasoned with thyme. one can substitute onions, which also have natural sugar, for the leeks, and dried cepes or shiitakes might be used in place of the morels, as might fresh mushrooms.

Although the tart makes a fine first course, I find that accompanied with a green salad and red wine it makes an excellent meal in itself.

25 dried morels, about 1/2 ounce

3 cups warm water

6 large leeks, carefully rinsed

2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 fresh bay leaves, or 1 dried

1/4 sour cream

1/4 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 Tablespoon white wine

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 sheet prepared puff pastry, 10 x 12 inches and 1/4 inch thick, thawed if frozen

1) Put the dried mushrooms in 2 cups of the warm water to rehydrate them. This will take about 15 minutes. Finely slice the white parts of the leeks plus 1 inch of the pale green.

2) Meanwhile, melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter in a skillet or saucepan over medium heat. When it is foamy, add the leeks and saute until translucent, about five minutes. Add the thyme, bay leaves, and the remaining 1 cup warm water. Cover and simmer until the leeks are nearly tender, about 15 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to cook until virtually all of the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes longer. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Stir in the sour cream and goat cheese, and add the salt and pepper. the sauce should be creamy and thick. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.

3) Drain the morels and cut them in half lengthwise. melt the remaining teaspoon of butter in a small skillet over medium heat. When it is foamy, add the morels and saute for 5 or 6 minutes. Add the white wine and chicken broth and continue to cook until all but approximately 1 Tablespoon of the juices has evaporated. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4) On a lightly foured work surface, roll the puff pastry into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick and approximately 12 by 18 inches. Place it on a floured baking surface to within 1 inch of the edges. The paste will be almost 1/2 inch thick. fold the edges over the leek mixutre, crimping them to make a free-form tart. Place in the oven and bake until the crust has puffed and the leeks are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the morels and bake another 5 minutes. Serve hot, cut into rectangles or wedges.

It tasted so creamy and good

from the warm sour cream

and goat cheese underneath!

Afterwards, I wrote in Robin's cookbook on the leek tart recipe page, the date and whom we had served. Over a lifetime, I find these little notes create such an evocative list of memories of good times and good companionship.

The Start of a Week in Provence

2011-08-12T08:00:00.000+02:00

My college friend of 35 years, Robin, called me from her home in Provence, France and said, "when are you coming to visit? Don't you have the time now? You simply must come." I begged off because I was hard at work learning Turkish and working on other projects. What is a girl to do, though, when your friend tries to call you three times in one day and says, "come!" I had no choice. So off I went.

I help out a representation of "The Kitchen Maid"

a famous Dutch masterpiece by

Johannes Vermeer (painted 1658)

There isn't a very direct way to get from Provence from Istanbul. I flew first to Amsterdam, where I was able to experience an hours worth of my Dutch heritage. In the very nice Amsterdam airport, there is a small gallery of paintings from the Rijksmuseum, the famous Dutch Art Museum full of Van Goghs.

Isn't that a fabulous idea - to have an art gallery in an airport? To share the very best of one's culture with people who are stuck in an building with no place to go? I'm surprised there aren't similar art galleries in airports all over the world. Good job, Dutch people, you made me proud. And you made me want to come back.

From Amsterdam, I then flew to Marseilles. It was an utterly gorgeous day without a cloud in the sky. Southern France has the soft, balmy Southern California-type weather only without the pollution. When the plane flew out over the Mediterranean and the Southern France coastline of majestic rocky fjords, it was simply breathtaking to take in the coastline, the sea, the sailboats and yachts, and the sun-washed city of Marseilles. I had no idea there was such a pretty, craggy coastline to Southern France.

I knew Robin would not be there right away to pick me up, having never once arrived on time to get me at any airport in the world. There is a comfort in knowing someone so well. I knew eventually she would show up and I would no longer have to loiter around the lobby, sneaking peaks at the amazing weather outside.

Robin and her husband live in Singapore now full-time where Robin has started a new job as a Senior International Government Affairs Advisor for a large oil company. She has her hands full between her new executive position, two daughters, and her husband's health care. Robin's husband has been recovering the last couple years from the surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy involved with having a brain tumor.

While my friend Robin employs a terrific Filipino man to help her physically care for her 6'4" husband, I wanted to give my dear friend lots of love and appreciation and make sure someone was taking care of her. We had last seen each other in Prague when she came to visit for some serious girlfriend time and I dragged her to the Museum of Communism rather than letting her see the art she wanted to see (hey, she worked for the State Department then, I was doing my duty as an American citizen).

La Mourrade

Eventually, my beloved friend came to the airport and we packed ourselves off for the trip to Provence and her fairy wonderland home "La Mourrade." Robin and Jim rent their home out much of the summer, when they do get to spend time there, they practically cry leaving the place, life is so beautiful there.

My bedroom window

Overlooking the terrace, the Lubéron,

and the spectacular mountain painted by Cézanne,

Mt. Sainte-Victoire

Along with their spectacularly-sited La Mourrade provencal home, this is the beautiful lunch Robin had prepared that greeted me upon arrival:

Oysters on the Half Shell

Al Fresco

A fresh, healthy Provençal salad

Grilled Sardines Stuffed With Lemon

A life-long friend

is a blessing.

I am truly grateful for

my friend Robin.

Lemon sorbet

with Black Currants

and Cassis

and a sprig of homegrown mint

A beautiful cappuccino to end the meal

Later that night, while enjoying champagne poolside, Robin asked, "Now aren't you glad you came to Provence?" Yes, I was. It was the start of an amazing week.

Poolside at La Mourrade

"You're My Al Bell!"

2011-07-26T05:28:00.001+02:00

Recently I reconnected with an old business competitor and dear friend from my hometown of Ames, Iowa named Rich Weiss. He made a comment about my writing from overseas, saying, "You’ve become my personal Al Bell and I find your insights quite interesting."

When I asked, "who is Al Bell?" he replied with this:

“What do you mean "who is Al Bell?” Didn't you grow up in Iowa?

Oh! I get it! This is your way of pointing out that I am much older than you.

Al Bell and his wife traveled around Iowa, visiting elementary schools, giving “assemblies” to the students on trips they had taken to exotic locations around the world. They would take a new trip each year and then spend three seasons going around, showing native items they had brought home and showing us a film about their trip. This was big stuff to Richie Weiss in Miss Frederik’s 2^nd grade class in 1962.

Here are links to items about Al Bell. I found the first one about 4-years ago when my son was living in Hong Kong and I told my daughter-in-law that she was my Al Bell. I hadn’t thought of him for 35-years and did a Google search. The other links here are to an assortment of stories about him from bloggers or area newspapers. He was a very colorful man who was known by virtually all small-town kids in Iowa in the 1960’s.

Did You Know Al Bell? (The comments are the best part of this one. We all remembered the same things. Mine is on page 1)

Al Bell Brought the World to Rural Iowa

Assembly Program comes to Goldfield, Iowa (column 2)

Lecturer Al Bell Bitten by Mad Dog in Alaska (bottom of the page)

Al Bell ~ An Iowa Legend

If you’ve read the links, you now understand why you’ve become Al Bell in my eyes. Your words take me to all these wondrous, mysterious locations. You let me see the sights, smell the bread, taste the coffee, meet the people and feel like I’ve been there myself. Thank you."

Wow, what a compliment to be mentioned in such august company as this distinguished gentleman who shared his travels with rural Iowa farm kids. Just reading the comments on link one, it shows the journey communication has taken in one lifetime. While the ease with which we find out information about points unknown has changed, what hasn't changed, is our own awe and wonder at the diversity of the world and our love of seeing beyond what we know to places unknown.

Readers, did you experience an Al Bell or someone like him? Who made you wonder about parts unknown as a child? Who makes you wonder about parts unknown as an adult?

Grateful to Miss Out on America's Media Obsessions

2011-07-24T07:26:00.001+02:00

Washington working on the Debt Deal

Recently, friends were visiting Istanbul from Palo Alto, California and I asked them, "what's everyone talking about in Palo Alto?" Being political junkies, like me, they cited the inability of Washington to come to a debt deal. Now this was something I have an opinion on!

Even though I'm overseas, I'm still an American citizen and care passionately about the health of my nation. It's easy to follow the twists and turns of the debate because all of that journalism is easily accessible to expats.

Casey Anthony

Not all of America's journalism is so accessible to expats. For that, I'm grateful. It causes the occasional occurrence, where all of a sudden, my friends back home are discussing something and I have no idea what they're talking about. Their Facebook feeds light up with outrage at a story, and I"m left with "huh, what?" Such was the case with the Casey Anthony story and a lady named Nancy Grace. Apparently, using a lot of understatement, America does not like either of them.

Nancy Grace

Casey Anthony is a young mother whose child died. She waited a month to report it. She was prosecuted for murder and was not convicted because the jury was not convinced that a murder happened, thinking it could just as likely have been a bad accident that the family did not have the courage to report. Nancy Grace is the America reporter whose anger at this young mother has captured the notice of numerous chroniclers as completely over-the-top.

Reading enough about the story to get the gist, I'm glad I missed it. Following it closely would not been a good use of my time and given how angry the people are who DID follow it closely, I can't say it would have been good for my soul. I don't love to be outraged, although I recognize there are plenty of people who do, and this Nancy Grace lady seems to play to that. And what could I have done to improve the situation? Nothing.

Tony Blair

Facebook makes it very easy to see the media's influence on folks because all of sudden, numerous people will all break out discussing the same issues, often with the same take.

In conversation, I notice this most often with British people who all use the same word to describe Tony Blair. To a person, Brits call him George Bush's "poodle." Now if they were all thinking that idea on their own, without help from the media, wouldn't there be some variety in the language used? 'Poodle' is not the most common pejorative.

This week's news story about the extent of privacy invasion in Britain all in an effort to bring readers the "dirt" on celebrities has caused me to reflect. How, have I, as a reader contributed to this sad practice? Do I need to read about celebrities? Do I want to know stuff that's not my business?

These dresses! I love them!

I don't care about Hollywood celebrities' private lives, but I do enjoy seeing their dresses. That doesn't involve invading their privacy. Whew!

On reflection, however, there is a particular story I'm ashamed of reading.

I followed the ins and outs of the DSK scandal in New York City. I had never heard of DSK before he made the news for being arrested and have nothing against him personally. Being a feminist, my heart did go out to that poor immigrant single mother.

When the case collapsed, I was sad for her, because I just couldn't believe nothing had happened. I'm sure others following the story believed the same thing which made us want to know how the prosecutors and police said one thing and then changed their mind about going forward with the case.

The New York Times (ironically, not a Murdoch publication) published a story with her confidential hospital report and I read that story. It had been provided to the prosecutor's office for evidence. I am 100% sure the reason they did this is because that's what their readers wanted to know. The journalists follow the market. I am part of that market. In light of the stories about large corporations using people's misery to sell newspapers, I am now not proud to have done this. I take responsibility. May that lady find peace and be left alone in dignity. I resolve to do better as a reader.

One of my very favorite things about CNN International is that it does not focus on celebrity news. I've even heard their anchors make fun of CNN domestic for the network's need to run celebrity news (Nancy Grace's ratings were through the roof) because that is what America wants and is voting for with its attention.

I couldn't help but contrast CNN's deeply admirable "Freedom Project" on human trafficking with all of the current headlines about hacking footballer's phone calls. I bet that took real executive courage to put on that series of news reports because it doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator and asks a lot of us citizens to just view, taking in the very real and gritty story of powerless people.

Can we do better as readers and viewers? Do you have a story you've followed that in hindsight either wasn't appropriately sourced or the best use of your time? Can we help empower executives to focus on stories that really do make a difference like the "Freedom Project" rather than on celebrity news?

My 7 Links Blog Project

2011-07-16T20:01:00.003+02:00

Thanks to Miss Footloose (aka Karen van der Zee) I've been invited to participate in the My 7 Links project organized by Tripbase, the wonderful organization that has recognized both our blogs with Expat Blog of the Year awards.

In this post, I am sharing 7 of my old posts you might not have discovered yet, at the end I list five other bloggers I've nominated to do the same.

My Most Beautiful Post - This is from one spectacular afternoon overlooking the Vltava River in Prague with my friend Sher. If you know nothing about Prague, this will help you understand why people fall in love with it. A Springtime Stroll Around Letna Park

My Most Popular Post - I'm deeply committed to doing what I can as an individual consumer and citizen to prevent climate change. So I decided to sell my car and live without it. Then one day I realized I had survived just fine without it for quite awhile. Starting My Third Year Without A Car

My Most Controversial Post -Looking back, I can't say I write very controversial posts. This one might not be the kindest one I've ever written, and I did try to put the behavior I was describing into historical context. Little Corruptions

My Most Helpful Post - The American lifestyle has a cost structure that feels unsustainable to me. In this post, I try to help Americas imagine a lower cost structure. The Czech Republic is the same size as South Carolina. Imagine if you were able to travel around a state the size of South Carolina for $400 a year. How the Czech Government Delighted Me As A Consumer

The Post Whose Success Surprised Me The Most - Who knew a visit to a gift shop would generate such discussion? My post The Swedish Tourist Attraction That Did Not Attract Me ended up featured on the Displaced Nation Blog where ABC News Royal Correspondent Jane Green and I debated the idea of monarchy.

A Post I feel Didn't Get the Attention It Deserved - Is it my idea? Or my blog post? What do I need, pictures? I only received two commented on this post, and I still like my idea. Why not give the opposite of a Nobel Prize to countries that could use, well, an intervention?
Does the World Need the Opposite of a Nobel Peace Prize?

A Post I am Most Proud Of - In 2009, I was struck how my Czech friends felt their opinions were ignored on a proposed American missile system that was slated for installation in their country. I wrote a blog post asking President Obama to come to the Czech Republic and either sell them on it or announce it would end.

He came, gave an amazing speech, and won the Nobel Prize. And the anti-missile system moved away from the Czech Republic. What a win/win. All because of my blog post!

I hope you're smiling here. I don't actually believe President Obama came to Prague because of my blog post. But I was contacted by the BBC to provide commentary about his speech (didn't happen due to logistics) because their producers had been reading my blog.

I do feel I showed my Czech friends, feeling their way through their new democracy, that taking action makes you feel better rather than being paralyzed. They marveled that I felt I could effect positive change. They didn't (which is exactly what politicians want you to think cause then you'll leave everything to them).
Dear President Obama, Please Come to the Czech Republic

I live for comments so tell me what you think!

Here are the links to five blogs I've nominated to join the project:

Adventures in the Czech Republic

Black Girl in Prague

Blogging Gelle

Ricky Yates

Senior Dogs Abroad

The Ottoman Empire from the other side as told in "The Bridge on the Drina"

2011-07-15T20:08:00.000+02:00

About five years ago, I was working at a Barnes & Noble, when an American customer of mine, whose book taste I completely respected, told me about this book. He was so enthusiastic I knew someday I would read it, even though I had never heard of the author, never heard of the book, and knew nothing about Bosnia.

Who could have suspected that I would eventually be living in Istanbul someday, be familiar with Ottoman history up close, and have walked a historic Mimar Sinan stone bridge with my very own feet. Not me.

What a book! What an author! And what a translator! This book is a haunting wonderful memoir exquisitely rendered in time and place. A young Christian boy is taken to the Ottoman capital to serve the Ottoman Empire. He converts. Eventually, he rises to a position of advisor to the Sultan. The Balkan native decides to use his position to build a stone bridge designed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan to commemorate the land he came from and to glorify God. The book "The Bridge on the Drina" is a fictionalized history of all that happened on that bridge over 400 years of village life.

We often assign metaphysical powers to grand urban assets like the Eiffel Tower, but this book made the reader cherish a rural stone bridge as a precious jewel that made life grander and more meaningful for all the villagers who come in contact with it. Could a man-made creation serve a nobler purpose?

Ivo Andrić is almost like a Balkan "Mark Twain" so great were his powers of observation about human nature, sometimes wryly so. You can not read this book without feeling he has an enormous love for humanity because he can describe people at their worst, their weakest, and best with such compassion and grace, it's impossible not to love his writing for that fact alone. I found myself writing down sentences within the book just to savor their genius later.

After I finished the book, I looked the author up on Wikipedia and I realized I had no idea while reading the book what faith he was because he wrote about the Christian and Muslim villagers with such insight you could almost think he had both faiths in his family. Ah, such is the Balkans.

Lastly, his patriotism moves me. Ivo Andrić gave all of his Nobel prize money to improve libraries throughout his homeland. He had an ability to make the whole world care about his little corner and love it as he did. I want to read everything else he has written.

What book has made you see an area of the world for "the first time?"

You might also like:

How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed

In Prague, You Can Enjoy Reading at the Cafe Europa

Who Was Atatürk?

Share the Best Of Czech Culture

I Served The Kind of England

The Restoration of Order: The Normalization of Czechoslovakia

Hanging out the with Expat Harem at the Istanbul Simulcast of the TEDGlobal 2011 Conference

2011-07-14T12:45:00.000+02:00

Me with fellow expats

Catherine Bayar and Anastasia Ashman

This week I attended the Istanbul simulcast of the TEDGlobal conference live from Edinburgh, Scotland. If you're not familiar with TED, I can't recommend it enough. The original organizational idea behind TED was to bring together innovative thinkers to share ideas worth spreading from three worlds: technology, entertainment, and design. There is a yearly TEDGlobal conference, offshoots like TED Women, and local versions organized by locals held globally called TEDx. Every year, one exceptional individual is chosen and awarded $100,000 to make happen "one wish to change the world."

Our simulcast was held in a beautiful facility, complete with a gigantic screen, provided by Turkcel, a local Turkish telecom. The day's events were a wonderful opportunity to meet up with American expats living in Istanbul whose work I have long admired: Anastasia Ashman, internationally bestselling author of The Expat Harem, and Catherine Bayar, a former product line designer for Nike and Adidas, who is currently deeply involved in Turkish handicrafts, especially those made by Turkish women.

Anastasia was profiled just this week in the Istanbul Daily Newspaper, Today's Zaman. She always has some project going. During our short break for lunch, we headed down the street to the Istanbul Culinary Institute where the students of the Institute test out their cooking creations on the public. While dining over grilled octopus, she told us about the current book she's writing, a forensic memoir. Sounds intriguing. You can watch her blog for details.

I was especially interested in comparing notes with Catherine about her old blog, Tales from Turkey, on the Google blogspot domain. I say, old blog, because like mine, her blog was censored by the Republic of Turkey. Since the censorship went on for what seemed like months, Catherine moved her blog to Wordpress, named it Bazaar Bayar, and she is presenting some of the most exquisite photography of Turkish handwork on her site for you to enjoy. The work featured really is breathtaking and it helps local women.

I could tell you all about the talks I heard and how intellectually stimulating it was but I can't do that better than another fabulous blogger whose work I love: Bulgarian Maria Popova. Maria has built a mammoth following with her Brainpickings Blog, and here is her rundown of Day #2 of TED Global, the day of talks I heard through the simulcast.

If I had one criticism of the conference, each presenter could have enhanced their talk by deciding what it is they wanted us to do with the information. What is their "call to action" for the listener? Even if a scientist is sharing her exciting news that she has been able to double the life of an organism, why not tell us who the funding body is and ask us to support continued scientific research? I bet people would be able to see the value of increasing taxes if they knew it helped support research that could double the length of life of living organisms!

You can access all of these talks through the TEDGlobal website as they are loaded. I thought the presenter who did the best job of sharing an idea (and frankly, scaring the heck out of me) was a young scientist from Tasmania named Elizabeth Murchison who is working to prevent the Tasmanian Devil from being the first species on the planet to become extinct through contagious cancer.

The moment that touched me the deepest was Cambodian anti-torture activist Karen Tse, who broke down why torture happens in over 90 countries. It's not just what we all assume (the presence of evil), and when you hear her talk, torture all of a sudden seems very solvable.

The moment that made me most proud was when the Chinese founder of the "China Lab" and the "India Lab" at MIT, Yasheng Huang, was explaining why China was the Michael Jordan of economic development and India, as a nation, was not quite to superstar quality like China and Michael Jordan. India, as a nation, was still amazing in terms of economic development, though, because they were still able to "make the NBA" (metaphorically speaking).

"It comes down to literacy. Literacy in China is defined as being able to read 1500 Chinese characters. Literacy in India is defined as being able to write your own name in whatever language you speak." If you compare the literacy rates of China and India (mid 60s% vs mid 30s%), especially of Chinese women compared to Indian women, it makes the difference."

Literacy rates helped bring about twenty years of double digit growth for a billion people. I am so, so, SO proud of being a librarian. Here then, is my call to action. Wherever you may live, I'd like to ask you if your nation is helping school and public librarians help citizens achieve literacy and economic growth? Please support the work of your local libraries and librarians with enthusiasm.

Expat Envy on the 4th of July

2011-07-04T12:48:00.000+02:00

On the 4th of July, it is hard to replicate the wonderful experience of celebrating America's independence the way it is done back home. You can get together with fellow expats, you can try and make the right food, you can pull up some You Tube videos of "A Capitol 4th" from the nation's lawn in Washington D. C. but it's not the same. Sometimes to really experience something, you just have to be there.

Today, I saw some smoked ribs, baked beans, and cole slaw my friend Scott made for his family, and I was filled with such longing for American food, I had 'expat envy.'

So here's a toast to my friends participating in boat parades on Ten Mile Lake in Minnesota, or marching in the 4th of July parade in Illinois, or watching the fireworks over the lake in Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, or Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Enjoy your 4th, enjoy your wonderful plate of food, enjoy the view from Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs of purple mountain majesty or of gathered elk in Estes Park, Colorado and pinch yourself at being able to experience such a glorious day. Sometimes we don't appreciate the extra-ordinariness of our everyday existence until we can't experience it like we usually do.

To anyone reading this who has served, is currently serving, or keeping the home fires burning for someone serving our country, thank you so much for your gift of service to the nation. I appreciate it. I have enjoyed the years of freedom I have experienced that you have made possible. I don't take it for granted for even one moment.

Similar posts:
My Wish for You: Freedom

My Favorite Freedom

Yes, the Czech Republic is really like this

2011-07-03T11:39:00.004+02:00

Imagine, being able to find beauty like this and world class beer for under $1 a glass all in one country. Yes, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are really like this. The girls *are* this beautiful. The guys, unfortunately, not so much. Click on my title to see the Czech and Slovakian ladies nominated for Miss Universe via Tanya at Czechmate Diary.

"The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria

2011-06-21T21:29:00.001+02:00

This marks my 400th blog post. I have to give a shout out to a blogger I read and was inspired by before I became an expat. Once while reading his blog, he remarked that he had reached 400 posts. I had no way of knowing how easy or hard that was at the time. Now I do and I salute Al Tischler, formerly of Radio Free Europe, for all of his hard work on the blog he wrote while his family was in Prague called Tischlers In Prague. I loved reading his family's adventures and couldn't wait to get to get to the Czech Republic as I planned from America. Al, it is a pleasure to catch up with you!

Now that I'm an expat, I see things that worry me about the future of America. A recent book published in the last few years with the title "The Post-American World and the Rise of the Rest" by Fareed Zakaria zeros in on that concern with a title that makes it sound like America zenith has past. I love watching Fareed Zakaria's show 'Global Public Square' on CNN and wanted to hear what this cerebral immigrant had to say about the American future.

Fareed Zakaria is well-known now to American television audiences, but it is important to remember what a breakthrough broadcasting success he was when he started his international affairs show. For most of us Americans he was the most prominent Muslim-American we had ever seen on television. Indeed, friends have suggested he could be our first Muslim-American Secretary of State.

I appreciated that his was the first Sunday talk show to consistently, week-after-week, bring an international panel of guests on his show to discuss how issues looked from abroad. Utilizing intellect and charm, he led Americans in considering and valuing viewpoints from non-Americans at a time when America was scared, hunkered down, and lashing out in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat," helped me understand the economic impact of globalization, Zakaria's "The Post-American World and the Rise of the Rest" soothed me as an American and made me comfortable with the political impact of globalization (despite its alarming title). As nations become "more like America" and compete with us using the same level of democracy and capitalistic meritocracy that made America such a success, it could be easy for Americans to fear the future and the world more. Zakaria suggests that if we stay true to democratic values and don't fight the reality of the rise of the rest, America has enough advantages with our superb ability to assimilate immigrants, our unrivaled institutions of higher education, and our storied ability to turn research into actual products to compete just fine against nations with larger populations.

Our role will be to lead politically and economically by example, coordinate nations in a multi-polar world as George H.W. Bush did so well in the first Gulf War, and thrive with our friends not just by ourselves. A new edition of the book, "The Post-American World 2.0" has been released as of May 2011.

New York Times asks its readers "Why Do We Travel?"

2011-06-05T06:34:00.000+02:00

Village leader at his traditional house in Harran, Turkey.

Recently the New York Times, inspired by travel writer Paul Theroux, asked its readers "Why Do We Travel?" Entries poured in and the finalists have been named. I don't envy the judges. I can't decide which one I would choose for the winner: either the essay about Rome or about Turkey. Do you have a clear favorite? Which essay would you choose as the best explanation of "Why We Travel." To read the final three entries, click on my title.

Bloggers Unite! Celebrate World No Tobacco Day

2011-05-30T10:29:00.000+02:00

I love the idea of Bloggers all around the world uniting around a topic to effect positive change. If I learn new ideas from the countries I visit that I can take home, one of the things I can do is bring ideas from my country that have worked and would be helpful to other people.

Today bloggers are uniting around the idea of "No Tobacco." If you would like to read the entries of other bloggers who are advocating for no tobacco, click on my title.

Since both of the countries I have lived in as an expat LOVE their tobacco, I repost a post from last year that celebrated one thing my country and specifically, my government, did well. The American government began a campaign to teach citizens how life-threatening tobacco is to smokers and the people they love. It began over 40 years ago, and today, America has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world. Here's my post:

I moved to Prague in November of 2008. It was the day after the Presidential election so I left full of hope and excitement for my country's future. The preceding month, however, with the credit crisis and the bank bailouts pretty much drove American belief in the fairness of our system out the window. It would have been so, so easy to give up in cynicism. I was grateful to be in Prague where I would be avoiding the continual depressing drumbeat of economic calamity in American news.

When I came to Prague, I discovered Czechs had their own cynicism about democratic politics. I'm not talking about before 1989, but after. Immediately after the Velvet Revolution, Czechs felt all of the assets of the country were stripped away in a big "grab" by politicians and carpetbaggers.

I don't want to be cynical. It's not my nature and cynicism never advanced the cause of humanity. So as I made my transition to living in a new country, I vowed to celebrate one wonderful thing about my government and the Czech government so that I could keep cynicism at bay. In my next post, I'll talk about one wonderful thing I admire about Czech government, even though there are actually many things (just as there are for America). Today, I'd like to celebrate my own government's actions. It actually ended up saving my life.

A typical sign
that conveys how socially unacceptable
smoking is in America.

I am grateful to the United States government for providing leadership in my country on the elimination of smoking as a socially acceptable practice. This wasn't a grass-roots movement from the people pushing up but a top-down campaign from the Surgeon General of the United States (our top public health official) to the people.

In 1964, the Surgeon General declared that "smoking causes cancer." That took real courage to say back then because 46% of American smoked. They smoked in cars, elevators, planes, offices, and their homes. The 1964 report was issued on a Saturday, so great were the worries about what it would do to the American stock market.

The news that smoking causes cancer finally sank into my brain in 1991 when I was 31 years old. Up until that point, I smoked more than I care to admit (okay, I'll admit it: 3-4 packs a day).

When I came to Prague, I had never seen so many smokers! Not even when I was 17 years old and thought smoking was cool. Just walking down one of Prague's very lovely streets, one has to be careful not to get a cigarette burn in one's coat because people are actively walking and smoking at the same time! I once chatted up a young Czech college student who was smoking and he was astonished by the idea that anyone would want to quit. "It relaxes me." I don't even think he knew it could kill him. And it's not just Czech young people who smoke.

Most educated people in the USA have educated themselves about the danger. In America, the majority of smokers left have less than a high school education. I've entered salons frequented by Prague intelligentsia where nearly 100% of the people had a PhD. But they are uneducated about the dangers of tobacco. The air was so thick with smoke you could see it move!

I was mystified by how unlikely it would be that my country led on this and the Czech Republic lagged on this. After all, in a socialist health care system, wouldn't the government want to eliminate preventable chronic disease because it would eliminate expense? Wouldn't Czech people resent their neighbor's smoking if that drove up national health care costs and their taxes? Isn't it in a socialist government's fiscal interest to change this smoking culture?

Maybe the taxes raised on cigarettes more than cover the cost of the increased disease and people who smoke are used for financing public budgets. I don't know. I will occasionally razz, with a joking smile, my smoking friends who are huddled outside for warmth where they've been banished nationwide in America: "hey taxpayer, thanks for paying more than your fair share through your smoking. You make it easier on the rest of us. But you don't have to kill yourself in the process - why not just mail in the money if you're so insistent on paying these extra taxes?" One of my young coworker has taken to calling his smoking breaks "paying everybody's taxes."

Why did my country lead on curtailing smoking culture when we had a giant tobacco industry that was hugely powerful, created tons of jobs, and lots of export income? The government continually, over and over again, did the right thing despite all that. We have all kinds of industries back home that sway the government from doing the exact thing in the best interest of the public as a whole. I would love to understand why the American government was so terrific on this issue when the government didn't even bear the health care costs of increased smoking, insurance companies did. What do you think, Americans? How could this sort of extraordinary leadership on an issue be reproduced? We sure could use an awful lot more of it.

I am so grateful to the Surgeon Generals of the United States for saving my life. Thank you for continually reminding the public that we were killing ourselves. And since all movements have a drum leader, I would like to take a moment to honor the individual human beings who have led this movement in my country. Thank you!

American Surgeon Generals from that period onward:

Leroy Edgar Burney (first federal official to state that smoking causes lung cancer)
Luther L. Terry (commissioned landmark 1964 report on smoking)
William H. Stewart
Jesse L. Steinfeld
Julius B. Richmond
C. Everett Koop (led a campaign to create a smoke-free society by 2000)
Antonio Novello
M. Jocelyn Elders
David Satcher
Richard H. Carmona
Regina M. Benjamin

See, it's not so hard to keep cynicism at bay! Next post I will talk about what I most admire about the Czech government.

Dental Overreach

2011-05-20T16:23:00.002+02:00

Disclaimer - Not my teeth - someone else's

Anyone who has ever moved knows what a job it is to reestablish all of the relationships that are necessary to daily life. The church, the school, the gym, the doctor, the dentist, the shoe repair man, the list goes on and on. As an expat the burden is even greater because it's hard to compromise on the standards you want for yourself.

Recently, I decided I needed my teeth cleaned because it had been 18 months since my last cleaning. I had an amazing dentist in America with a fantastic staff. I loved visiting his office, so much so that the one thing I did when I was home in America was make sure I got my teeth cleaned there. My dentist's office was full of information about he and his wife being in the top 1% of cosmetic dentists. Everything was fantastic about that office from the wonderful friendly staff, to their expertise, right down to the terrific bird feeders out his window for me to watch.

So I asked friends I trusted for a terrific dentist recommendation in my Istanbul neighborhood, went and checked out the office beforehand and inquired about prices, looked around and was sufficiently impressed that it was both upscale and thoroughly modern to international standards. Today I went for my appointment.

The dentist didn't know that it had been 18 months since my last cleaning. He used those little dental mirrors to look at my teeth. "You don't need to be here. Your teeth don't need a cleaning. There is nothing to clean." he said. "It was nice to meet you."

I was completely flabbergasted. My dental hygienist back home wanted me in every four months. She wanted me to buy a WaterPik. She wanted me to buy tools that would stimulate my gums. She said without quarterly cleanings and daily tools my teeth would really suffer. Now they guy is telling me after 18 months of benign neglect they look fine?

This appointment was a perfect example why America consistently runs up medical bills that outpace the world without better outcomes to show for it. France spends a mere 11% of GDP on health care. America is at an unsustainable 16%, predicted to hit 19.5% in five years. For all the money we spend, we are 42nd in the world in life expectancy. We are the only industrialized, first-world nation without health care for citizens and we routinely leave 50 million of our fellow citizens uninsured. Yet, we spend all this money and for what?

Why do we keep doing what we're doing in America? Overtreating? Each year that we don't fix this pointless spending, other nations get to invest that money on something else. The 5% difference in what we spend on health care and someone else doesn't spend on health care then gets compounded every year. Their investments in their countries build and make all kinds of exciting projects possible.

What Creates Compassion?

2011-05-15T21:47:00.008+02:00

"If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it" ~Atticus Finch, "To Kill A Mockingbird"

All around the world today, bloggers are uniting to celebrate our human quality of compassion. I love participating with other like-minded souls on a project like this because it then also becomes a celebration of the new kinds of connection that the internet makes possible. You can find other blogs on compassion by clicking on the "May 15 - Day of Compassion" badge to the right.

Compassion allows us to sublimate the feeling of "other" that we see in people and instead find out how we are alike. To really feel compassionate, we have to do what Atticus Finch, the fictional hero of "To Kill A Mockingbird" suggested to his daughter Scout. We need to consider life from the other person's point of view.

How do we do that when the "other" is "the other?" If a group of people is unknown to us, and we fear them, we don't know any of them, we haven't talked to any of them, we will probably let fear of them grow in our mind.

I suggest the quickest way to grow compassion for others that we do not know or understand is to consume each other's literature and media. My country would be a different place if the American people had access to Al Jazeera and could see the Arab point-of-view. My country would be a different place if it would choose to have a more global appetite for media, and not just consume home-grown American books, TV shows, and movies. I believe we would literally be nicer.

The useful thing about consuming media of "the other" is that it is not threatening. We can hear the opinions, emotions, feelings of those who disagree with us or see things differently without having to instantly react.

I remember when I saw the movie "Cesky Mir," a thought-provoking Czech movie describing how Czechs were working to end a possible American-installed radar system on their land. What stunned me was not the arguments against the missile system, but the knowledge the Czechs had about how corrupting all that American money floating around would be to their tiny little democracy. I believe Americans are so used to that wash of money over our government we can hardly see its influence anymore - it seems normal.

In the movie Cesky Mir, one old village lady asked, "how can we trust the Americans? You see the kind of crap they send to our country for our young people through their movies!" Yikes, that cut me to the quick because I knew it was true. We do create a lot of crap movies! I acknowledge and agree with her point-of-view.

Could that be the future? Citizens of one country getting citizens of another country to question how they do things through media? This could be the start of mass grass-roots diplomacy!

Maya Angelou

One area where I feel that I have a lot of compassion and where my country has grown a lot of compassion is in race relations. That has been the work of my generation of white Americans: opening our heart to the full participation of African-Americans in American life. I have consumed untold quantities of African-American literature, music, and movies. I defy anyone to read Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" or Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and remain compassion-less.

Ralph Ellison

This is why literature is so incredibly important and why I am so proud of my profession of librarianship. It heals society. It strengthens our heart muscles and makes them more daring and more loving. I have scads of African-American friends because I feel comfortable with them because I am comfortable with their outlook on life (as much as one can generalize about a whole group of people) through the consumption of their media.

I can see both the good and the bad in African-American culture just as I can see the good and the bad in my Caucasian culture. What is so healthy in my country is that we can laugh at ourselves and each other and discuss all of these things publicly. We are listening to each other and enjoying each other. I would hate to think of what my country would be like if we never choose to become more accepting of each other. I think it would be similar to this parallel, non-touching existence of Coptic Christians and Muslims that a famous Egyptian blogger describes in his blog "Rantings of a Sand Monkey" here.

In contrast to how comfortable I am with African-American culture, it was recently announced that America is now 16% Hispanic. I have consumed hardly any Hispanic literature, hardly any Hispanic music, and hardly any Hispanic movies. I tried to think if I had any Hispanic friends (one may call me on it later, we'll see). I couldn't think of any. That doesn't surprise me since I have opened no window into their culture other than food.

I had never been inside a mosque until I moved to Turkey. It has been so darn healthy for me to come form my own opinion of Muslim societies rather than stick with the image Osama Bin Laden thought I should have. The more I learn from Turks about who they are and what their culture is about, the less distance I feel between me and them. It is impossible for a group of people to be "the other" when you can see yourself in them and feel what they are feeling.

If I could ask something of you today, gentle reader, ask yourself: "whom do I fear? Whom do I resent? Or who is invisible to me because I choose not to see them?" Then go out and find their best literature, movies, or music. Start a relationship with an entire culture. You may end up with wonderful friends who will enrich your life.

Who Was Atatürk?

2011-05-14T08:33:00.001+02:00

If an expatriate is going to live in Turkey, this book is almost required reading because it is about the person most beloved throughout the nation: Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. I enjoyed this book because it was interesting to see how one person with vision saw enormous opportunity in the decline of the Ottoman Empire and created something completely new.

The average leader could get get bogged down in mourning the loss of territory, wealth, and power the Ottoman Empire was experiencing. Atatürk shrewdly knew what was defensible and what was not. He literally "rebranded" an entire nation, calling it "Turkey" and defended it against the Allied Powers. Today, the Turks are proud to be the only Islamic country that has never been colonized.

Coming from America, which now celebrates multi-culturalism, this book helped me understand why Turkish people find multi-culturalism so threatening. At the time of the War of Independence, Turkey was threatened with being "nibbled away" by various ethnic groups claiming "Turkish" land for "their people." With Atatürk's leadership, the land mass known as "Turkey" is one piece and one nation. The Turks have begun updating their dated thinking on multiculturalism with the beginnings of a more liberalized attitude toward the Kurds, but there is a long way to go yet. Turkish attitudes towards ethnically-diverse groups within Turkey are similar to where mainstream white America was on the subject in the 1950s: "Aren't we all Americans? Aren't we all Turks? Minorities should conform to the culture of the majority." Turks are coming around very, very slowly, like we did, to the idea of "Yes, but....there is nothing wrong with celebrating our varied heritages."

There are a couple things that totally impressed me about Atatürk. He excelled at all martial and diplomatic strategic activity. He had the forgiveness and detachment one sees within great leaders like Mandela toward his former foes. For example, when given the opportunity to walk on a Greek Flag to celebrate a Turkish victory, he refused. His neighboring examples of how to run a country were Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, and Mussolini's Italy, yet when other party members wanted him to put his party above the nation, he refused.

Atatürk was superb at cutting losses at what wasn't working, such as the Turkish Arabic-style alphabet and Ottoman-era Turkish language infused with many foreign words, simplifying the whole language with a Latin alphabet. The librarian in me was fascinated by this decision. The agony of cutting off all heritage literature from current and future readers is so momentous! Mango points out though that only 10% of the population was literate at the time of the change so it was less of a risk than first imagined. The hard part remains that only the select few who understand the old script can read it for themselves. Everyone else has to rely on what "experts" say the old writing says.

Atatürk wanted women to be liberated to be their best. Turkish women were granted the right to vote in 1930 - compare that with Swiss women who didn't achieve it until 1971!

Atatürk made government secular within a land that was almost 100% Muslim. Rather than be cowed by worries of offending religious sensibilities, he pursued Western-style education and knowledge for his people. He constantly communicated to them his belief that they could make their own destiny. To this day, Turks carry that feeling within them.

Mango's book is considered the definitive source for English-language speakers. It's a little scary how completely Mango dominates the reading list for English-language readers on all things Turkish. He have been enormously productive and his output is extensive.

Blogger Censorship Finally Ends

2011-05-11T10:38:00.000+02:00

This week, the Republic of Turkey's censorship of the Blogger domain ended where I live! Yea! It's nice to be able to see my blog and not just reach it from the back end.

The Nobel prize-winning author Nadine Gordimer says that “censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.”

Even though censorship happened at the domain level, it is really hard not to feel it personally when it happens to you. I do feel less free to speak my mind. I don't think it can be healthy for the creativity of a people to be prevented from self-expression. I'm glad it is over.

Checking Out the History of Dissidents: New Vaclav Havel Library to Open in 2013

2011-05-10T13:46:00.000+02:00

A Force for Good

Vaclav Havel

Modeled after the American Presidential Libraries, the new Vaclav Havel Library will be a repository for Vaclav Havel's published works and unpublished papers. Unlike Presidential Libraries, this Library will carry the samizdat of years of repression and the official papers of years of expression. The unique gathering of that collection makes for an interesting juxtaposition and the final triumph of Prague dissident voices from repression - to rule - to Presidential level archives. It's a fairy tale, really. A political fairy tale.

Click on my title to read more about the project.

So, Are You Thinking About Becoming an Expatriate?

2011-05-09T15:59:00.000+02:00

New this week:

"Expat Women Confessions"

by Andrea Martins

and Victoria Hepworth

When I was thinking about becoming an expatriate, I had no idea what was involved or how I would do once I went overseas. I was very lucky to find the Expat Women website because their monthly newsletter, collection of expatriate blogs by women from all over the world, and website features gave me the courage to dream. Expat Women was probably one of my very first information points about everything involved with being an expat. Reading other women's experiences gave me courage!

As anyone knows who begins down the path of a research-heavy dream, it can consume a lot of hours poking around on the web to find answers to the thousands of questions involved in any new endeavor.

Luckily, experienced expats Andrea Martin, Director of Expat Women, and Victoria Hepworth, manager of the Blog Directory that is contained within the Expat Women website have teamed up to answer some of the most commonly asked questions women have about what is involved in an overseas life.

This week, these two accomplished ladies are launching their new book: "Expat Women: Confessions." Their one-stop guide to issues related to expatriation covers topics such as how to settle in and deal with culture shock, how to handle a crisis such as medical issues or death abroad (heaven forbid!), what are some of the money and career issues common to expatriates, and most importantly: how will expatriation affect one's relationships with significant others, aging parents, and children.

Andrea and Victoria know what questions people would ask and want answers to before they leap! Andrea talks to expats all the time not only through her web site but also through her professional speaking to expatriate groups. Victoria wrote her Master's thesis on 'trailing spouses,' the phenomenon where spouses whose other half has been offered an overseas opportunity that decides a couple's path.

They will undoubtedly cover a topic that seems unnecessary before you jump. I never thought I would need to know about sudden repatriation, but I did. I wish I had known about that before it happened. That's the beauty of this book. Expat Women: Confessions answers questions we think to ask and those we don't.

Things My Mother Taught Me

2011-05-08T06:24:00.000+02:00

Me and my Mom

on a Rocky Mountain Hike in 2008

I'm lucky to have one amazing mother and to be the mother of two amazing daughters. I love my Mom and all that she gave to me growing up, most especially, a fun, exciting and secure childhood. Today I was thinking of lessons my mother taught me. There are thousands. I'll just mention one.

I grew up in a university town. My mom always used to tell me, "remember, all people are equal. Both the janitor and the university President should be the same in your eyes because each one of them has something to teach you if you just listen. Just make sure you are listening to both. You always want to be the kind of person who can relate to everybody, not just people at one end of the occupational or earning spectrum."

I have always lived and loved that advice. It would be so damn boring and limiting to only enjoy people who are just like me. Now as an expat, I'm living that advice in even more extended ways: learning from people who have a different geography, nationality, and faith. They have so much to teach me too.

Mom, here is a gorgeous bit of prose I learned from people in Turkey. I think it describes a mother's love exactly:

"Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, 'you owe me!'
Look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the whole sky."
~Hafiz, Islamic Sufi poet

World Press Freedom Day: Lara Logan Breaks Her Silence

2011-05-03T21:14:00.001+02:00

Today, May 3rd, has been designated as World Press Freedom Day by UNESCO. Blogging has made me acutely aware of the toll bloggers and journalists all over the world have paid for bringing stories to their communities. Here's the toll from just one country, Bahrain: one publisher & one blogger killed, 68 journalists and bloggers arrested or fired, and 20 investigated.

Do you know a journalist you can thank today for bringing you the story? If it was a dangerous story, please thank them for the risks they took. If it was a meeting that went on for three hours at night and they're attending it rather than tucking their kids in at night, a little appreciation would go along way. Journalists provide the sunshine on democracy and human endeavor.

This World Press Freedom Day I am in awe of the courage shown by one South African journalist reporting on behalf of the #1 TV news magazine in America. Her name is Lara Logan. The name of her show is 60 minutes. She agreed to do one interview only about what she experienced trying to bring Americans the story of the Egyptian Revolution. The courage this woman displayed in breaking the code of silence on sexual assault is a gift to women everywhere. May the rest of her life be truly blessed. Click on my title to see her interview and remember, hug a journalist today. Tell them they make a difference.

Turkish Government issues list of 138 forbidden words on websites

2011-05-03T15:07:00.000+02:00

Wow, if I wasn't having problems enough getting around the Turkish censorship of Google's blogging platform (the censorship hasn't stopped in my area but it has been lifted intermittently in other locations around Turkey), news comes today that Turkey is going to ban any website with 138 different words. One of the first on the list is "passionate." I guess that would rule out the discussion we expats had this weekend over at Displaced Nation about the Royal Wedding and the institution of Monarchy. The moderating bloggers chose to title the post: "Two writers with passionate views of Royal Passion." They probably didn't know that it would keep a potential 70 million people in Turkey from reading it! If you want to write about being "blonde," "overweight," or making "homemade" cookies, you are also out of luck at reaching a Turkish audience. Click on my title to see what else is censored.

What Did You Think of the Royal Wedding?

2011-05-01T07:27:00.001+02:00

The Royal Kiss

We're having a big discussion over at The Displaced Nation. Come in and contribute to the conversation. Jane Green, chick lit author and ABC News Royals Correspondent is celebrating the traditional fairy tale. I'm asking the question that formed in my mind while visiting the Swedish Royal Palace gift shop: how could women get all the story, fashion, glamour, and romance of the royal wedding without the existence of monarchy? There has to be a way. Contribute your thoughts!

Photo and links were added at a later date due to Turkey's ongoing censorship of bloggers.

Religion will be 'nearly extinct' in the Czech Republic by 2050

2011-04-23T06:37:00.005+02:00

The Czech Republic is already the most atheist nation on Earth. Mathematicians and scientists are predicting that the Czech Republic will become even more atheist, and that by 2050, religion will have virtually died out in the Czech lands and in eight other European countries. The exact same modeling program used to predict the death of languages is being used to predict the death of belief. You can click on my title to read the article from the Prague Post.

It's hard to know if Czechs believe in anything because their sense of humor is so black. I would often tease my Czech friends that they would be completely skeptical when their spouse said "I love you," because Czech people believe no one in authority on anything! What do Czech people believe in?!?

A nation of atheists was planted when the Catholic Pope rejected Czech requests for Mass to be delivered in native Czech instead of Latin more than 100 years ago. The Pope should have learned from the history of Saints Cyril and Methodius (two Byzantine priests from Constantinople) who translated the Bible into Slavic languages so the Czech people could learn it in their own tongue. Cyril and Methodius even created an alphabet for Slavic languages to make translation of the Bible easier.

During the Czech National Revival, if being told they couldn't worship in their own language wasn't enough to drive religion out of Czechs, later in the 20th century, the Communists then further drummed religion out of them.

When I moved to Turkey, I could feel the difference in religious belief immediately. Maybe the most visual way of seeing it was a conservatism among people on the street. I saw no public display of affection anywhere and of course, Muslim dress in its varied forms. I also felt my possessions were completely safe on the Istanbul streets. I felt completely safe leaving my consumer electronics not locked up at work because I was 100% sure they would not get stolen. But it was more than that.

Comparing societies, I'll quote my former President. Bill Clinton says the United States has gotten away from being a "people-centered society & become a money-centered society." Sadly, I agree with him completely. In America, I would say you can literally feel America's predominant religion and values are "commerce," in the Czech lands the dominant religion is none, and in Turkey I would say the dominant religion is, actually, religion.

Upon my arrival, it stunned me is that I found Turkey's spirituality refreshing. After all, they practice a different religion than me! It was refreshing because the values came from the people themselves. The values in the public square have not been overrun by corporate salesmanship that degraded all things sacred in pursuit of selling something.

My Turkish friends cite the Jesus cage match on the TV show "South Park" as evidence that we in the West hold nothing sacred. It is completely fair criticism. I see evidence everyday that "The People" are still dictating the values here, not the corporations and the people who create for them.

When the Muslim World doesn't like something the West does, rather than rail against someone exercising their free speech (a value the West holds so deeply it could and would never give it up), they would create more thought and changed behavior with the question "is there nothing you hold sacred?" It's a question that isn't asked enough in my Western culture.

Now what will the Czech lands do with all those spectacular baroque churches? And what will a nation without belief be like? What will Czech people hold sacred?

Prague's Anglican Minister: The Reverend Ricky Yates

2011-04-22T19:12:00.002+02:00

Happy Good Friday readers! Today I was delighted to see my pastor in Prague, Chaplain Ricky Yates of St. Clement's Anglican Church, properly written up in the Prague Post and recognized for his work serving the English-speaking expat community in Prague.

Regular readers of my blog know how incredibly tight-knight I found the expat church community at St. Clement's and how Pastor Ricky was there for me and my friend Anna when we got in a tight spot with our visas. I simply can't say enough about the community of people there and his leadership of us. Click on my title to read the whole article. You can also look to the right of this post and see the link for Ricky's blog. Best of all though, if you're in Prague, head on down to the church on a Sunday morning at 11 a.m. to tell him hello yourself. You'll be glad you did.

The Czech President Pockets A Pen

2011-04-18T05:16:00.000+02:00

President Klaus brought home a great souvenir of his State Visit to Chile. Click on my title to watch the video. Five million people have already sought it out and watched it!

Europe Takes Note as Norway Smashes Through the Glass Ceiling

2011-04-16T18:14:00.000+02:00

I guess I'm just not ready to let go of my admiration for Scandinavian thought leadership.

In 2010, my travels really taught me how America lags the world in female representation in government and industry. America is currently ranked 85th in the world for elected female leadership. Yes, America, that wasn't a typo. It was an 8 and then a 5 to make us 85th out of 195 countries in the world. Mediocre.

Deutsche-Welle, the German media company, has published a story that reminds me while American women are talking a good game, other women are actually making gender diversity happen.

Norwegian women have "smashed through the glass ceiling." How? By getting their government to tie corporate board gender diversity to a company's ability to be competitive for a government contract or listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Well played, ladies. I admire your obvious business acumen in executing global leadership in gender equity. Kudos also belong to the chivalrous conservative male politician in Norway who introduced the legislation.

American women, there is hope. Less than a decade ago, Norwegian women were represented in only 7% of their corporate board seats. We could turn this around by following their lead. If not, we're slated to fall even further behind as the rest of Europe adopts measures similar to the Norwegians. The American Dream, if you're female, might be more-likely found in Europe.

Click on my title to read the article.

Empty Next Expat Chosen as a Top Expat Blog by Tripbase

2011-04-12T13:51:00.002+02:00

For a second year in a row, 'Empty Nest Expat' has been chosen as one of the best expat blogs in the world by Tripbase. I even moved up a spot on the list. The Tripbase staff hand picked blogs among many choices in many different categories. I am thrilled to be recognized for a second time!

This is a tough year for me to blog because between trying to stay in the Czech Republic and now getting censored in Turkey, it's just flat out hard to sustain blogging! For example, I can't even physically see my blog to see how the layout looks so I hope their award badge looks ok. I appreciate you, gentle reader, coming back when I go awhile without a post due to no stable living spot or no access to my blog. Sometimes I think that's the secret of my readership, I'm not always reporting how everything is going swimmingly because a lot of the times it is not.

I also love when you leave me comments! I wish I could reply to them presently, but I haven't yet figured out how to put up a reply comment through my secret blogging back door that gets around the Turkish censors. So please know I'm happy you're here. Thanks for reading "Empty Nest Expat' and making it one of Tripbase's "Top Expat Blogs." Click on my title for their original press release.

This Blog is Censored in Turkey

2011-04-02T17:50:00.000+02:00

Tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on? I'm not sure. Because I can't physically see my blog. You'll have to tell me if you can. I'm physically prevented from seeing what I write here so I hope you can read it. I just now figured out how to get a post on my blog through a blogging "back door."

I haven't posted in over a month. That hasn't happened in the three years I've been writing this blog because there has been so much I've wanted to share in my traveling adventure.

As many of you know, I moved to Istanbul, Turkey last summer and have thoroughly enjoyed myself here. I'm a bit behind in blogging about my adventures because well, a move is disruptive, and time-consuming. Turkey itself is a fantastically-interesting country with incredible history and beauty. I can't wait to tell you about it!

Right now, however, my blog and any other bloggers using Google's Blogspot domain are being censored in Turkey. The story printed in the papers was that one person was illegally streaming football matches over his blog and a judge ordered not just his blog shut down, but the entire domain! Blogspot gets 18 million hits a month in this country alone. I sincerely hope you aren't a Turkish person trying to run a business on your blog cause you've been out of luck for over a month now. I can't even imagine how frustrating that would be!

Now I'm American so I don't know much about football. I've watched one game in my life, the final of the World Cup, and it was enough to convince me that I don't need to know too much more about football. Yawn! Geez, it's slow. But a game is over in one afternoon, right? I have no idea why this censorship continues. One of my American friends said, "well, maybe that guy wasn't streaming a football game, but a cricket match. Those go on for weeks, right?"

So here we bloggers sit. Still censored. Maybe it's because I'm a librarian and we librarians are constantly making sure the public has access to banned books. Maybe it's because I spent so much time in formerly-Communist Prague and I find the idea of repressed society unable to express their opinions so compelling and worthy of my advocacy.

The effect of this banning was annoying at first, but now it's starting to feed my ego. I never would have thought to put "being censored" on my bucket list, but hey, now I can cross it off the list as "done! Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt" What could we all have to say that merits this silence? Why, I do believe my blog is samizdat (the Russian name for literature that doesn't have the official seal of approval so it has to be self-published)! How wonderfully romantic. The librarian in my loves the idea of "Banned in the 'Bul!" Somebody ought to make T-shirts and sell them.

Another thing the librarian in me is giggling at: I'm not the one doing the shushing here!

If It Were My Home: Comparing Sweden to the United States

2011-02-28T07:48:00.000+01:00

In my final post about Sweden, I'd like to share a wonderful Internet site that appeals to the geeky librarian in me for its beautiful presentation of data and ease of understanding for the reader. This site is called ''If It Were My Home.'' It allows readers to compare two countries side-by-side. I'm glad to see the instincts telling me Sweden is outperforming the United States were correct. I wish I was wrong, alas, no.

The only category where we are outperforming Sweden is in income. Given that our wealth is at the top, and Sweden is 25% immigrants, it feels much wealthier than America when you're there.

Click on my title to go to the real site with extensive informatıon. Compare any two countries you want! Wouldn't it be cool if our countries felt competitive with each other about their statistical performance and started to compete on performance on our behalf?

Related posts:

There Is No Need to Save Face In Sweden

If This Is Socialism, Sign Me Up!

What Idea(s) Captured Your Imagination in 2010?

The Swedish Tourist Attraction That Didn't Attract Me

Visiting Sweden: If This is Socialism, Sign Me Up!

2011-02-14T08:00:00.024+01:00

Sweden wowed me when I visited for one week last November. I was stunned by the general prosperıty of the population, and to be honest, I didn't quite understand it. For example, I spent time in Örebro, the 7th largest city in Sweden. It's the same size as a city I lived in America whose downtown had been hollowed out and decimated by the move of manufacturing from America to China. Why hasn't Sweden had the same trouble competing?

In Örebro, every downtown shop was rented and many were selling magnificent fashion. There was one fashion boutique after another. Imagine the best brands: Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, etc. all being on offer in the downtown of an American manufacturing town. I can't. I could only assume the wealth hadn't 'trickled up' enough to move out-of-town.

Surely I would find poverty in the public library.

Where are the homeless people

trying to stay warm?

They weren't sitting in the cafe

all day either

Wait...nope just a sculpture.

I went into the public library of Örebro to count how many homeless people I could see. If it matched a downtown library of an American manufacturing city on an equally frosty day, I would estimate in advance, that there would be about 20 homeless people. I couldn't find one. NOT ONE! I went through every nook and cranny of that library too from the top floor to the basement.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Swedish old people over the age of 70. I wish I had thought to take pictures. Swedish old people are aging beautifully. I saw person after person looking 10 to 15 years younger than their actual age. The Swedish universal health care system meant that the entire population was better cared for their whole life and they must have had the faces and bodies and teeth and health they deserved. Not only did the old folks look great they were dressed fashionably in stylish clothes. As I was chatting up one older gentleman in Sweden who told me he was seventy, he said with a mischievous twinkle "yes, but if I start speaking French, I'm a mere 60!"

Human beings aren't the only part of Sweden that looks great. So does the land. In Turkey, every ounce of topsoil and all the trees are gone from my neck of the woods - quite understandable given 8,000 years of continuous civilization. In Sweden, the forests went on for miles and miles and the air and water were very clean. Swedes say they are very lucky because they didn't pay the price other European countries did during WWII, but they aren't giving themselves enough credit for being incredible stewards of the environment.

When I would compliment Swedes on their nation, I would hear "oh, but we have terrible problems with income inequality [the link shows they really don't, at least compared to everyone else, Swedes must be comparing internally]. Plus, it gets dark too early in the day and it is cold." Now would a statement like that about income inequality come out of an American's mouth? I don't think we would even think such a thought. Yet, our nation has more income equality than at any time since 1928.

I didn't actually get to see this but a friend in Stockholm told me there was an extensive series of tunnels underneath the City of Stockholm so that no neighborhood had to have a multi-lane highway going through it. Just the idea of being willing to spend tax money on underground highways so as to not impose that on anyone (in America, above-ground multi-lane highways would get imposed on poor neighborhoods) stunned me.

Visiting Sweden I couldn't help but think of American intellectual Cornell West. He has a phrase for our current American experience: "we have become well-adjusted to injustice." If Sweden represents the socialism that is so often derided back home in America, sign me up!

Related posts:

A Week in Sweden

There is No Need to Save Face in Sweden

Daydreaming at Stockholm City Hall

Visiting the Nobel Museum

The Swedish Tourist Attraction that Didn't Attract Me

What Idea(s) Captured Your Imagination in 2010?

2011-02-07T12:32:00.001+01:00

The idea that really captured and shocked my imagination in 2010 was this: American women are not progressing politically as I would have expected in the early 21^st Century. We currently rank 85th in the world for female representation. 85th!

African-Americans, after all, can rightly celebrate political progress. One hundred years after the founding of the NAACP, and 40 years after the civil rights era, America has a black President.

What about the progress of American women? Lulled by Hillary Clinton’s success in garnering 18 million votes for the Presidency and the addition of two new Supreme Court Justices, I hadn’t actually kept up with how far we as American woman have to go to equal the gains of women everywhere else in the world.

Out of 13,000 members of Congress

in our history,

only 2%

have been women.

~Name It, Change It.

Two things raised my consciousness in 2010. The first was a brand new organization founded by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda called ‘Name It, Change It’ that points out sexism toward female candidates in the media. I have written here about the stunning effect of seeing America’s media-generated sexism gathered and catalogued on a daily basis. It’s shocking.

If you are an American feminist of either gender, I’d like to ask you to join me in changing the world by “liking” this organization through Facebook. It has taught me a lot. There are still less than 1,460 people who “like” this group. You would be among the cutting-edge politically by doing so. Both my conservative and liberal friends have signed up and been shocked by how dismissively their female candidates have been treated.

Only 31 women

have ever served as Governor

compared with 2,317 men.

~Name It, Change It.

Here’s an example of what they taught me: scholar J.A. Schmitz's wrote an article highlighted through the website that pointed out that America’s system will not result in equal representation for females anytime soon. Why? Because our system is set up to give incumbents an advantage in reelection. Since 90% of incumbents are men, women are at an obvious disadvantage that could take years and years to overcome.

The beautiful Stockholm City Hall

Council Chambers

Being an expat has also allowed me to compare the American system with other countries' systems. When I was in Sweden, I asked the Swedish tour guide at Stockholm’s City Hall, “why is it your country has made such incredible progress in electing women?”

My Swedish tour guide told me, “what I have always been told is that in a system that directly elects representatives such as America’s, it practically requires millionaire-status to run for federal office. Because most women are devoting their prime years to running their families rather than making money, most millionaires happen to men. In Sweden, a parliamentary system favors those who do the work. Hence, more females are chosen and elected as representatives of their party.”

Parliamentary systems such as Sweden also lend themselves to quota systems that ensure more female representation. While women are just as underrepresented in cabinet offices in Iraq as American women, their new constitution requires political parties to fill quotas for female representation. I don’t believe in quotas, but I can’t help but think that this minimum level of female representation will be good for women and children in Iraq.

I'll admit, I’m discouraged by what I learned. I thought we would be farther by now. I had no idea how much farther we have to go.

What ideas have captured your imagination in 2010?

Daydreaming at Stockholm City Hall

Name It, Change It: Sexism and Equality Don't Mix

The Swedish Tourist Attraction That Didn't Attract Me

2011-02-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

During my week in Sweden, I could tell one aspect of Swedish culture that had wide appreciation among Swedes and foreigners alike was the Swedish monarchy. Recently, there was a royal wedding between the beautiful Princess Victoria and her physical fitness trainer Daniel Westling. Reportedly, their relationship was quite a love story warming the hearts of all lovers of fairy tales.

The Swedish Royal Palace gift shop was barely maneuverable due to tourists snapping up the merchandise related to this event. I noticed my complete lack of interest in this recent royal wedding - a reversal from my twenties.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles

When I was twenty-two years old, I fell head over heels for the fairy tale of my time: Prince Charles and Lady Diana. I delighted in every minute detail of the wedding planning. I could not consume enough pictures of every fabulous thing Lady Diana said, wore, or did. I got up at 3 a.m. to watch the entire ceremony. When I was married the following year, I asked my florist to reproduce EXACTLY the bouquet Diana had carried down the aisle.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s relationship all turned out to BE a fairy tale. In other words, a fictional story designed for public consumption that wasn’t true. It was merely good for business and marketing a nation. I feel naive and silly, in retrospect, for having expected that it should be otherwise. Royal marriages don’t even have a tradition of being about love.

This female fantasy women have of being a princess doesn’t even need to be projected onto a specific woman. There's a famous business legend about a guy hired to help the Walt Disney Company grow their business.

As the new consumer products division chief, Andrew Mooney attended his first "Disney on Ice" show. While waiting in line, he found himself surrounded by young girls dressed as princesses. “They weren’t even Disney products. They were generic princess products,” he mused. Soon after realizing the demand for all things princess-related, the Disney Princess line was formed. In 2009, that "Princess" division grossed an estimated $4 billion.

As a pure business proposition, the Swedes chip in under $2 a piece to support the royal family. For their $16 million, they get a photograph-able family that can generate publicity and interest in Sweden more than any prime minister could.

What I DO find myself attracted to in Swedish culture, is this group of people who have banded together to proclaim the idea of kings and queens a ridiculously outdated notion. You can read about their ideas here.

Think about it, if we as human beings have gotten rid of stupid ideas like serfs and slaves, why haven’t we yet rid ourselves of the obsolete notion (on the other end of the spectrum) that chosen human beings should serve as "Truman Show" figureheads above the rest of us?

Maybe women have a deep-seated need for princesses.

What is a princess? I would define her as a pampered girl, indulged in consumption unavailable to others due to her birth rather than her innovative ideas or labor. Her power isn’t exercised directly because she doesn’t, after all, have the responsibility to produce anything. Her job is merely to “be,” not to “do.” Why? Because by being fashionable, beautiful, and of high birth she's...worthy. Ick.

That's why we women fall for it...being deemed worthy. But why do we need hereditary monarchy to be any of those things. Why do we need to be a princess to be fashionable, beautiful, of acclaimed parentage, or worthy?

Can't get enough pictures

of Michelle Obama's dresses!

I'm not saying I don't turn into a girly-girl the minute Michelle Obama's State Dinner Dress photos come out. Hey, I am woman. I love pretty dresses. What got Michelle Obama there? The power and audacity of the ideas represented, not dated institutions that have outlived their Medieval existence.

I was bemused at yet another way I find Scandinavians to be global thought leaders. This group of Swedish people (called the Swedish Republican Association) made me think and I'd like you to think with me. If princesses didn't exist, what would young women dream of being? Could it likely be a healthier idea for humanity and relationships? A more realistic idea? Can you imagine people of the future laughing at us for even allowing the idea of undemocratic monarchies to exist? For needing the “idea” of princesses?

What would you dream of being if princesses didn't exist?

Visiting the Nobel Museum

2011-01-31T12:00:00.000+01:00

Freezing yet Cheerful

I'm in Stockholm!

A scientist friend told me once that a Nobel Prize in Sciences was a dated concept. He said most breakthroughs require an ensemble, a team, and the idea of one guy toiling passionately for years in his lab until one day he says, "Eureka!" is overly dramatic. He felt it was not the likely way big discoveries will happen in the 21st century.

That may be, but I found, like most tourists, that visiting the Nobel Museum was #1 on my list of things to do in Stockholm. To me, the Nobel Prize represents goodness over evil, enlightenment over superstition, knowledge over anti-intellectualism, and excellence over mediocrity.

I respond to the innovation and thought leadership I see from the Scandinavian countries. Having figured out what works for their countries and developed themselves to the highest degree, as societies they seem free to operate as aristocrats who no longer have to worry about earning a living and can move on to higher, more noble concerns such as how to advance the human race. The Nobel Prize is just the most prominent example.

A beautiful reclining Buddha

displayed as part of an art exhibit

at the Nobel Museum

celebrating the philosophy

of the Dalia Lama

Beautiful and inspiring sentiments

on a garden bench

also part of the art exhibit

Sculpture formed out of

discarded Manhattan phone books

I loved not only seeing the art exhibit but the short movies about each Nobel Prize winner and the other movie about creative environments that breed innovation and excellence without apology. There wasn't an exhibit on how to raise a Nobel Prize winner. I suppose by the time people win, their parents aren't alive to celebrate with them and to be asked how they did it. That's probably not so important. I don't know about you, but I've always observed there is no shortage of worthy scientists, instead there's a shortage of funding for all their great work.

The Nobel Museum is in a stately old building set amidst Old Town Stockholm. I had to tease the front desk clerk that the big clock in the middle of the exhibit space was dead and not working in a building devoted to celebrating excellence. "I know, she grinned, we've tried for three years to get it to run properly. No luck." The irony made me smile. Maybe they should offer a prize.

Daydreaming at Stockholm City Hall

2011-01-22T15:34:00.001+01:00

Stockholm City Hall

photo by Yanlin Li

I can't think of anything in the world more prestigious than a Nobel Prize, can you? One of the great pleasures of being in Stockholm was to see the sites associated with the yearly Nobel Prize event. One of the places used to celebrate humanity's most illustrious achievements is Stockholm's City Hall.

The Blue Hall

at Stockholm City Hall

Photo by Yanlin Li

I don't know why I find everything associated with the Nobel Prize deeply romantic, but I do. Probably because while the Prize goes to one person, you know that someone doesn't achieve something like that without incredible help and support. I found myself reacting to all of Stockholm's Nobel glory with schoolgirl wonder.

One night in Stockholm, I watched new members who were going to be inducted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences arrive at City Hall in their white tie and evening gowns. It was such a beautiful moment to see, knowing that this had to be one of the happiest moments of their lives. Bravo! Brava!

Now that I think about it, it wasn't just seeing Swedish scientists arrive for dinner and dancing that made it all seem so fanciful. I do know why I find it all so dreamily romantic.

I've always had a serious crush on CalTech scientist Richard Feynman who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965. Feynman would now be over 90 but he died in 1988. I think back to his wonderful essay "The Value of Science" which is so breathtakingly beautiful, it has the ability to make every humanities major question their choices.

I went through a period where I read every single book Richard Feynman wrote for a general audience. While I had never taken physics in school, his enthusiasm for the subject always made me realize "I am missing out somehow!" He had such a flair for showmanship when explaining physics. Most people remember him not for his Nobel Prize, but for explaining very simply, using only a glass of water on the table, how the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up.

The Swedish Flag

Hanging in the Blue Hall

More Swedish Pride

The Blue Hall is the largest room in Stockholm City Hall and it is most famous for being used every year for the Nobel banquet every December 10th. Every year 1,300 people squeeze themselves into this beautiful space with just 40 inches of space between them. So what if you have to eat with your elbows close to your sides, this is one of the most exclusive invitations on Earth, no?

Table service for the Nobel Dinner

Two beautiful bas relief sculptures

in the Prince's Hall

within Stockholm City Hall

where receptions are held year round.

These window sculptures

overlook the harbor and a

terrace about as European and romantic

as terraces can get.

The Golden Hall

at Stockholm City Hall

where laureates go to dance.

Isn't it fabulous?

Photo by Yanlin Li

The Golden Hall at Stockholm City Hall is done with a beautiful golden mosaic that could best be described as Picasso's Byzantine Period. Picasso didn't have a Byzantine period, you say? I know. But if he did, this is what it would look like.

What? You say your City Hall

back home isn't quite this cool?

Yeah, same here.

The architect gave the artist a mere two years to finish the entire job, something the mosaic master felt would take at least 6 or 7 to do properly. One of the very fun stories the tour guide relates is pointing out a headless Swedish patriot at the top of one mosaic, surrounded by equally headless friends.

"Why Mr. Artist, did your patriot get put up there on the wall minus his head?"

The artist said, "well, that's due to him having lost his head to the enemy in battle. I didn't portray him with his entire body and head, but left the head off as he lost it in service to his country."

"Yes, but Mr. Artist, why then are there a couple other characters without their heads at exactly the point where the wall meets the ceiling? Could it be you forgot that there would be 4 to 5 feet of benches at the base of the wall and the entire mosaic was raised 5 feet?" Ouch.

One would never pick these mistakes out on one's own - or even want to, actually. It's the Swedish strength and ability to laugh at themselves, that makes these very human tours possible.

Oh, and look what I found. Richard Feynman dancing in white tie during his Nobel weekend. That is one lucky girl.

Richard Feynman and his wife Gweneth Howarth

1965

Photo from the CalTech Archives

There is No Need to Save Face in Sweden

2011-01-15T06:00:00.011+01:00

Can you see the people near the bottom

of the magnificent Vasa Warship?

There were so many things that impressed me about Sweden but one of the most fun to experience was that a couple of the top tourist attractions in Stockholm all involve human mistakes. And the Swedes are OK with that! They not only don't hide them, they tell you the fun stories behind each one.

The most prominent human mistake on display in Sweden is the Vasa Warship Museum. A couple of hundred years ago, King Gustavas of Sweden wanted to go raise hell in Poland and had one fine warship built for himself to use invading Polish harbors. When he had it built, he spared no expense in putting all kinds of colorful, scary carvings on it intending, of course, to have Polish sailors peeing in their boots when they saw it coming. The Swedish king wanted to use it to sink every Polish ship in their harbor and block all activity.

Restored carvings

showing how the ship was painted in

full color that

conveyed the King's might

Unfortunately, someone's shipbuilding math was off. Had the entire ship been one meter wider or less top-heavy the ship might have had a fighting chance to complete it's mission. It looked unstable in the harbor but none of the king's advisor's had the courage to keep it from sailing.

When a strong wind hit it shortly after launch, the ship leaned enough to one side that water starting pouring into the open windows used for the cannons. It sailed all of 20 minutes before sinking, blocking the Swedish harbor, not the Polish one.

Three hundred years later, a Swedish archeologist decided that Sweden needed to bring the ship up from the depths of the mud and now the whole thing is on display. I'm not a guy, but when I entered the museum and saw this giant, gorgeous instrument of war, even I got a testosterone rush. It was 17th century shock and awe.

Scary and beautiful carvings

on the back of the ship

sans their color

Hearing about how bad math doomed the ship reminded me of Henri Petroski's wonderfully readable book about the role of failure in design called "To Engineer is Human." Doctors bury their mistakes, but poor shipbuilders, builders and engineers have to experience all of their failures publicly. VASA museum tour guides are very used to the giggles that come out of tourist mouths like mine as we contemplated how embarrassing it all must have been.

I ask you though, hasn't the Swedish bravery in showcasing their mistake given that warship a higher purpose? Kids, look what happens when you don't do your math homework!

A Week in Sweden

2011-01-07T19:22:00.032+01:00

Starting a fun day of sightseeing

at a cold beautiful overlook of Stockholm

I recently had the opportunity to visit Sweden. I went in November, an unusual time to go close to the Artic Circle but it was when I had time available.

A beautiful woman who helped with

directions in the central city.

Can you tell she's Swedish?

She is.

It was my very first time in Northern Europe. I felt like I had returned to my childhood! Having grown up in the center of Iowa, I had been surrounded by Norwegians and Swedes. They were proud "Scandinavians" eating lutefisk at Christmas and displaying their bright red wooden Swedish horses and candelabras. My mother had learned how to cook Swedish tea rings from our Scandinavian-American neighbors and my whole family did our best to encourage that borrowed ethnic specialty in our house. Warm, fragrant, gooey, cinnamony, frosted tea rings are delicious!

This young woman was

on my tram in Stockholm.

Can you tell she's Swedish?

She is.

I delighted in all of the ethnic Swedish names. Say these out loud, they're so beautiful:

Astrid and Ingrid and Märta and Linnea
Einer and Anders and Liam and Mattias and Nils

and these last names:

Eriksson and Olsson and Gustafsson and Lindberg and Eklund and Lindgren and Lundin and Nordstrom

A Swedish Royal Palace Guard

Can you tell he's Swedish? He is.

Being exposed to all of the glorious first and last names common throughout Sweden made me realize some friends back home, especially those living in Northern Illinois, were of Swedish origin. I had never considered their ethnic origin before that moment. It was fun to discover.

Contemporary Swedes have an open heart. It's not always easy to do so, but they do. They have opened their country to immigrants from other countries and are now learning terrific food from them like I learned about Swedish tea rings and lefsa back home in Iowa.

This polite young man came to Sweden

from Somalia when he was six.

Can you tell he's Swedish? He is.

Can you tell this man is Swedish?

OK, he's half Swedish.

The other half is Zambian.

I admired the Swede's open hearts because when everyone is sooooo ethnically similar, it has to be disconcerting to have people with different religions and traditions and values and ideas integrate into your society and start to change things by just being their normal selves going about their normal daily lives.

In one grocery store, I asked an immigrant helping me find cranberries where he was from. "Kurdistan!" he said, with all of the fierceness he could muster. I had to think about it for a moment and then realized the reason I didn't know where it was is because it is an area within Iraq.

Knowing that there are all kinds of people like him scattered across the globe in an ethnic diaspora, is a reminder to give all of these people a break. I was glad when he dissolved into a surprised fit of giggles hearing me give him an Turkish "tessekur ederim" (thank you).

Complimenting a Swedish lady about her country's openness to immigrants, she said, "but who can say who is Swedish? My grandparents are from Poland!".

We Americans should be especially grateful for the Swedish open hearts because they are the world's people most gracious enough to take in Iraqis fleeing strife cause by the war and occupation the Bush Administration started in Iraq. In 2006, Swedes took in more Iraqis than any other country in the European Union. Christian Iraqis, fearing persecution in their homeland, make up a large part of that influx after Iraq occupation in 2003.

Sweden, this little tiny nation of 9 million, has taken in 100,000 Iraqis. America, with a population of 310,000,000 has only taken in 350,000-400,000 Iraqis from a war we started. If you meet a Swede, America, you might want to say "thanks."

Or, we could do even better, we could crack open our hearts a little.

Does the World Need the Opposite of a Nobel Peace Prize?

2010-12-30T00:00:00.002+01:00

Do you remember when Ronald Reagan first declared the totalitarian Soviet Union an "evil empire?" Many citizens in the Soviet Union cite that moment as the one that caused them to really think about and question their own system.

"How could that be?" I wondered, "Everyone could see it was evil, why couldn't the people who actually live there? Why would it take an American President to make them stop and question something that was so obviously not working for participants and outsiders alike?"

Reagan said:

...I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

President Bush tried to create the same effect of waking foreign citizens out of their denial by demanding Iran, Iraq, and North Korea end their "axis of evil." Unfortunately, President Bush seemed to be in his own self-delusion regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time so it didn't quite have the intended effect. And it also didn't accurately reflect those three nations diplomatic actions. They weren't in a tri-part pact.

If people get delusional, it makes sense that countries and societies can get delusional too. They are just a giant collection of individual people. Indeed, there are delightful books written about economic self-delusion such as Tulipmania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused. Another well-known form of personal delusion is addiction as described in the fiction bestseller A Million Little Pieces.

What could some national delusions be? How about:
Colonization?
Debt loads?
Empire?
Ethnic cleansing (World War II Germany and the Balkans and Rwanda more recently)?
Environmental degradation?
Hatred? (Middle Eastern attitudes toward Jewish People and European attitudes toward Roma)?
Extreme Paranoia and Societal Militarization (North Korea)?
Extreme Paranoia and Thugocracy? (Iran)
Nationalization of Property? (Soviet Union)
Non-Acceptance of Election Results? (Ivory Coast)
Extraordinary Corruption? (Afghanistan)
Extraordinary Use of Resources (United Arab Emirates and the United States)
Censorship and Lack of Free Expression (China)

What if someone with more credibility and less baggage than President Bush, a disinterested organization with a track record of caring, credibility, and leadership toward uplifting humanity gave the national equivalent of a 12-step intervention to a nation? A diplomatic call to "snap out of it!"

I propose that such a yearly intervention exist. Coming from the Nobel Committee, this yearly-awarded challenge could go to the country most needing a loving intervention and reminder that your fellow humans wish the best for you and think you can and should do better.

In order to let a nation know it needs to change, this intervention could be labeled not the Nobel Prize, but the Nobel Challenge. The Nobel Challenge would be the very classy national equivalent of friends and family sending an addict to rehab. Detox, please!

Even if countries go behind "an iron curtain," if the citizens have known about the prize beforehand and find out that their country has won the award, it becomes a kind of shorthand meaning "look long and hard at the direction your nation is headed. We, orignators of the award, "challenge" you because we think your nation is the one potentially endangering the peace of the world. It forces debate among citizens that can't be so easily dismissed and ignored.

The Nobel Challenge could be the sort of thing that seeps change into a country at the grassroots level. How can any one story in the media reach the North Korean people and give them the message "the entire world thinks you need a change." For all I know, the North Korean people know that better than we do. But do all the people of Iran? What seeps into the minds of the oppressed at the grass roots level? One big call to action might not only bring people to discuss change, but be empowered to create change.

Here's another example from my own culture where a society fails to recognize its own delusion. There were recently stories in the news that America and the United Arab Emirates consume electricity and water in huge quantities. The United Arab Emirates used four times as much water as Europe and four times as much electricity as the United States. These stories may have been noted for about 24 hours when they came out but most citizens of those countries would just yawn in indifference.What if the world, in the form of the Nobel Committee, said through the Nobel Challenge, "your use of resources is unsustainable, please change, your behaviour could create potential conflicts." First, my country would have a hissy fit, then we would get down to business and exceed whatever benchmark was given for change.

So how can humanity create change rather than yawning indifference to a long-term story? Think instead how the announcement of a Nobel Prize is treated. The tradition is institutionalized so journalists are prepared for the announcement and make sure to cover it in a significant way. It's a tradition that is highly anticipated around the world. It has a track record that people can discuss and debate. It has a meaning deeper than one particular year or person or organization. Instantly, when a Nobel Prize is announced, book clubs around the world read the works written by the author cited in the literature prize, for example, and think about the author's ideas and discuss what has been held up to the light by the prize.

Why even a totalitarian nation might have a hard time keeping that news from it's people no matter how hard it tried. It would be the equivalent of when an addict is confronted by all their family and all of their coworkers and the ability to "excuse" is stripped away. I recognize that defiance (one of the central hallmarks of an addict), may be the outcome of a dictator being challenged in this way, but the world has to shut him down sometime.

In George Orwell's "Animal Farm," it's when the pigs take the milk and apples from the other animals and the other animals notice and don't say anything that the abuse of power continues and increases. Orwell calls it the turning point of the story. When Chamberlain appeased Hitler with Czechoslovakia, same thing. Indeed, an ignored Nobel Challenge to someone like Saddam for the way he treated his citizens might have given George Bush some legitimacy for later intervention (I can't believe I just said that, I didn't believe in that military intervention one whit).

As the history of the Nobel Challenge built up, it might begin to have a preemptive performance effect before it is even given. Jack Welch, the CEO of GE chosen by Fortune Magazine as the "Manager of the Century", was famous for the performance he got out of his company (when he took over as CEO, revenues were $26.8 billion - when he left they were $130 billion). He had a rule that he would eliminate the bottom 10% of nonperforming staff every year. Can you imagine how extremely motivating it must have been to people to not be in that bottom 10%? Can you imagine how motivating it would be to not have your country ever receive a Nobel Challenge? It sounds cruel, but actual conflicts are crueler. Just read my previous blog post for a reminder.

All managers of any sort of human enterprise know that there is an entire emotional cycle to implementing change with all kinds of foot-dragging and noise by those who hate changing. The Nobel Challenge could be helpful in prodding those who love the status quo because it's the "devil they know." The world may have to absorb change at an even faster pace in the future.

If our species doesn't find a way to challenge the ever-expanding global abuses of power in a cost-effective, non-military way, could it be the turning point in our story?

WWII was worse for Central Europe than even our histories and memories tell us

2010-12-29T04:43:00.001+01:00

Sometimes reading about the evil of the Holocaust it seems so over-the-top that it's all one can do to take in the enormity of all of the killing and dehumanizing that went on in the concentration camps. Try to imagine this though, it's even worse than everyone thought.

Anne Applebaum, writing in the New York Review of Books, in an essay called "The Worst of the Madness" says that the camps may be the predominant preserved historical artifact of carnage. but much worse carnage occurred elsewhere, for example, in the killing fields of Central Europe. Those killings are less likely to be officially commemorated, remembered, or written about [probably because there is nothing to look at like photos or an actual camp].

Ms. Applebaum also argues that with two dictators, Hitler and Stalin, operating ruthlessly in the Central European theater, it accelerated and exacerbated the carnage of the other. The author argues that each side should expand their notion of guilt of what deaths they may have caused.

She says even the United States can't walk away from revising our notion of participation. That we weren't involved in just a "Good War" as Americans like to think of it. She suggests it was more morally ambiguous because Central Europe and the East were left to experience 45 years of totalitarianism.

I found that hard to take because I think Americans would have loved to liberate to the east of Pilsen, but deferred to the Soviets in thanks for their help. It's true that we Americans would probably never imagine an entire region of the world getting walled off and it's inhabitants being treated like prisoners. As an American of the next generation, reading about it all just increases my respect for all of those in Central Europe that coped, and perished, due to "The Worst of the Madness."

Thanks to David Brooks, opinion writer for the New York Times, for alerting me to this magazine essay. He chose it as one of the best of 2010.

St. Clement's Anglican English-Speaking Church Services will be broadcast globally this Christmas on BBC Radio 4

2010-12-23T15:37:00.002+01:00

You've heard that Christmas carol about ''Good King Wenceslas,'' right? Well who was he? The Czechs know but everyone else could probably use a little background. My beloved church community in old town Prague has had the great honor to be selected by BBC Radio 4 to broadcast a program about the life and death of St Stephen and also of Wenceslas, tenth century Duke of Bohemia, who became known as St Vaclav, patron saint of the Czech Republic.

Would you like to hear it yourself on Sunday, December 26th? It will be available online at 08.10 GMT (9.10 CET in the Czech Republic) and you can also listen to it anytime in the next seven days after that.

I'm so proud to see my friend and pastor Ricky Yates be honored this way and so happy more people will discover this wonderful community of people who gather weekly from all over the world to worship in Prague.

Merry Christmas!

Celebrating Those Who Celebrate the Best In Humanity

2010-12-17T15:07:00.001+01:00

2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo (right)

and his wife Liu Xia (left)

Last week about this time I was watching the live coverage of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Did you happen to catch it? It was moving. Apparently CNN International does a live interview with the recipient immediately after they receive their prize. China did not allow this year's recipient, a Chinese citizen, to travel to Oslo to receive his prize (note to Communist Central Committees - anytime your decision puts you and Adolf Hitler in the same historical footnote, you might want to consider alternative viewpoints before making the final call).

CNN International was left to use their entire Nobel Peace Prize interview hour to discuss with various people what human rights are like in China. If you were watching, like me, did you come to the same conclusion that all of us really know nothing of what is going on in China?

CNN International mentioned that the People's Republic employs 50,000 people just to keep the Internet censored at all times. It made me think about how many goods I purchase from China (especially since every country's manufacturing seems to have been farmed out there) and how little these purchases reflect my values if they are being manufactured in a tolitarian state. The first step in addressing a problem is awareness.

It impressed me that despite all of its economic power, the majority of the world would not be bullied into ignoring the ceremony based on China's demands. It impressed me that Norway is charged with administering the Nobel Peace Prize because Alfred Nobel admired that Norway had never declared war on another country (check out their wealth indicators - peace pays). It impressed me that such a tiny, little country has found a way to capture the world's imagination, to get people like me to slow down for an afternoon, and to consider where we as a species are going. Norway, there is nothing small about your ideas.

To honor the Norweigan people for their ability to be the thought leaders of the world on the subject of peace, I want to do my small part today and share something I never heard of or read until I moved to Europe. It is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created by the United Nations 61 years ago.

Get a cup of coffee, take a few moments, and ask yourself if your country measures up on every article. Did you even know this Declaration existed? Did you even know that some of these items were your rights as a human being as decided by the peoples of the Earth? Were you surprised by any of the human rights declared? I was surprised by Article 16, the whole section on marriage and family.

How can we as individuals move our global leaders closer to honoring these rights rather than ignoring them? Do you feel your own country is delivering on these globally universal human rights?

Heda Kovaly, Czech Who Wrote of Totalitarianism, Is Dead at 91

2010-12-10T11:56:00.000+01:00

People of a certain age in the Czech Republic have had the misfortune of experiencing the full blast of the worst of the 20th century. The Czech Republic was occupied by the Nazis longer than any other country. Quickly after the nightmare ended, years and years of gray totalitarianism started.

While I have not read this author, I can't help but read her obituary and be impressed by her dignity, her humanity, and her sheer ability to survive. Here's what the New York Times reviewer had to say about her book looking back on the worst of totalitarianism in Central Europe:

“This is an extraordinary memoir, so heartbreaking that I have reread it for months, unable to rise to the business of ‘reviewing’ less a book than a life repeatedly outraged by the worst totalitarians in Europe. Yet it is written with so much quiet respect for the minutiae of justice and truth that one does not know where and how to specify Heda Kovaly’s splendidness as a human being.”

Take a moment to click on my title and read about the life of Heda Kovaly, author of ''Under a Cruel Star.''

Starting My Third Year Without a Car

2010-12-06T15:54:00.001+01:00

It never occured to me that I could live without a car until I decided to become an ''Empty Nest Expat.'' Such is the constant brainwashing of Americans that the American dream must include a car. Had I known how fantastic it is to not own a vehicle, I wish I could have given it up much sooner.

I sold my beloved Saturn red coupe the month before I left to go overseas. A Saturn was the perfect car for a woman to own because it was possible to buy the car without negotiation and to pay for three years of maintenance up front. Saturn's innovation was pricing the product visiably so buyers didn't feel that it was a contest with the car salesman to see who could 'best' the other in deciding on a price.

As a Saturn car owner, all I had to do was drive the car into the dealership every 3,000 miles to get the oil changed. My favorable opinion must not have been universally held because the Saturn brand went bankrupt a year after I sold my car. Even loving the car as I had, I didn't appreciate how much nicer life is without one.

Moving to Prague, I was able to enjoy a very simple, cost-effective transportation system at the low cost price of $22 a month. This enabled me to have a wonderful quality of life because I could easily go home for lunch from most places in the city and I didn't have to devote any of my time to gassing up, car washes, or getting my vehicle maintained. I also didn't have to devote my time to being stuck in traffic because public transportation always had a dedicated lane, metro tube, or tram track. Better yet, I no longer needed to earn the money necessary to own a car. This opened up more free time.

I have lived in two subsequent cities since then: Madison, Wisconsin in the United States and Istanbul, Turkey. In both places, public transportation works just fine and a car is superfluous. I never want to go back to spending money on something I don't actually value!

When I get in a car now as a passenger (a very rare occurance) I'm always struck by the stress that the driver is experiencing. I am thrilled to give up that need for control and have the freedom and lack of stress created by leaving the driving to others.

I would never have learned this without moving to another culture because my own consumer culture constantly reinforces that I should own a car.

Not All Who Travel Must Leave Their Armchair

2010-11-30T08:23:00.000+01:00

There are times in one's life when there is no possibility of travel. When illness threatens, for example, or there are numerous small children to raise, or when the budget just doesn't allow for it. But there are still ways to allow the imagination to take off and see far-off lands and consider peoples and places that are new to us.

Recently, I discovered a blog that encourages precisely that sort of thing. The Global Reading Challenge encourages people to select a book from each continent of our globe and read it. This is exactly the sort of deep dive into each other's point-of-view that isn't happening enough in the Internet age of reading chunks of information.

As an American, I would often hear a recitation of American authors from my European friends that they enjoyed. I have to admit, when an Italian teenager on the subway bumped into me and I was expecting something rude to come out of his mouth, he instead responded to my American accent and described all of his favorite outdoor American writers from Jack London to Jon Krakauer. His favorite American writing? I was curious to hear what it would be. ''The American constitution - where it says you have the right to pursue happiness. Beautiful!'' he said.

How could I not feel that this young man understood my culture after he shared what he had read about it? It would be impossible! The Global Reading Challenge has easy, medium, and advanced levels of challenge. Wouldn't this be a fun challenge to do with a teenager in your family if you are a parent or grandparent? Has your book club challenged itself to read around the world? Click on my title to access the blog and reader reviews of suggested titles.

Pray that the Road is Long

2010-11-22T14:30:00.000+01:00

Recently a friend shared a poem with me that she said reminded her of me.

I had never heard of this poem, but upon reading it, I enjoyed the compliment. It is a wonderful poem that I now share with you. Do you have an ''Ithaca?''

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.
Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.

It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Celebrating My 50th Follower!

2010-11-11T10:58:00.000+01:00

Yea! I just had a new follower join my blog and excitedly clicked on her profile to see who she was. Please join me in welcoming Clare Wilson, a researcher who is doing a research project on expatriate spouses. Not being married, I can't help her. But I bet there are some expatriate spouses out there who can. Will you take a minute to see if you are a perfect candidate for her research? Thanks so much! Click on my title to see her blog.

I Saw a Suicide Bombing in Istanbul Yesterday

2010-11-01T05:19:00.000+01:00

Police work quickly to clear Taksim Square

Yesterday, I witnessed a bombing in Taksim Square in Istanbul. I was seated on the third floor terrace of Simit Saray restaurant, enjoying traditional Turkish tea and simit with a friend, when a very loud boom and explosion silenced everyone in the usually bustling Taksim Square. We were about 100 meters from where the bomb went off.

The fiery explosion was about the size of a airport shuttle bus. It occurred right in front of where the Istanbul police park their dolmuşes (transport buses) to get out and assemble for duty along Istiklal Avenue. There was a small car parked there and several police dolmuşes. The bomb blast seemed aimed at the car. When the explosion happened, it didn't appear as if anyone in the car reacted. Maybe they were stunned or hurt. There was a few short bursts of gunfire, maybe 10 shots. I could not tell which police officer was shooting or at whom. I merely heard the gunfire. It wasn't very much.

My friend and I crouched down but we felt relatively safe behind our balcony wall. We could see the situation unfold. "I don't think it's an Al Queda bombing," he said. "Al Queda usually doesn't attack the police. If it were them, there could be a second bomb. Al Queda usually bombs in twos. It could possibly be the PKK (Kurdish separatists) or a leftist group." Hearing him analyze potential bad guys, for some reason, made me feel safer. My Turkish friend had already lived through an Al Queda bombing in 2003 that claimed the lives of three of his colleagues.

The mother in me ached for those police officers as I watched them respond. I had nothing but friendly feelings toward these fine young men who graciously protect the many colorful protest marches that parade down Istiklal Avenue every Sunday.

All of my female friends with sons in the military flashed through my mind. I remember feeling gratitude that my friends who had sons in service were not hearing the voices of the police officers react. It could haunt them.

The police had a completely undefined, chaotic situation. You could hear the terror they felt in their voices as the tried to clear the Square as quickly as possible. Taksim Square is an incredibly insecure area with streets jutting into it from several directions and a huge open plaza where another bomb could potentially have been planted. Taxis continued to barrel into the Square and the Police seemed to bang on their cars in a "haven't you heard?" sort of way.

Some people helpfully ran away, while others poked along in ways that seemed completely unconscious of what just happened. People seemed oblivious of the policeman's responsibility to get each one of them the heck away from danger. Not only did the officers have to worry about another explosion potentially taking place, you could hear in their directives to people what I thought was anguish and anger over their fallen comrades. I could feel their vulnerability and their humanity. Thank you, Istanbul police officers, for suffering on our behalf. You were heroic.

I counted four wounded: 1) a businessman in a suit with a red tie who had been propped up against a light post, unable to put weight on his legs. He was later lifted and carried over to a bus kiosk. 2) A police officer with an injured left hand who kept working to clear the Square 3)one person laying down who looked seriously hurt and another one(?) whom I couldn't see. I could only see his police officer comrade race on his behalf to the ambulance seeking immediate help for him.

I did not know it was a suicide bomber until I read the news reports. I didn't see any dead body laying around, but this bomber presumably was on the far side of the car from where I was seated. I was surprised to read so many people were injured and I speculated when I read the numbers that there may have been police officers who had been between the dolmuşes where I wouldn't have been able to see them. I have no idea how the higher civilian count happened. I didn't see that many people injured.

In case there was a second bomb, we decided to exit Simit Saray and go down Istiklal Street to a safer place. The staff lifted up the metal roll-down door so we could leave. Istiklal Street had been cleared of people for approximately 400 meters back. We ran as quickly as possible to get behind police lines.

We stopped to have tea and listen to news reports at a restaurant off of Istiklal and then decided to go to the Kurdish restaurant of my friend's friend. "What could be safer than a Kurdish restaurant?", we joked. I couldn't help admiring Turkish people's lack of hate toward their Kurdish neighbors both when I was up on the balcony and when we went to the restaurant. Turks and Kurds live side by side in Turkey, the Kurds have a terrorist group aimed specifically at creating terror in Turkish people, and yet the Turkish people don't hate them. I admire that.

"I don't feel terror," I said to my friend. He said, "neither did I the day the first incident happened. It's the next day when you start thinking about it that the terror starts. The feeling lasts about a month." The other bombing my friend had lived through was much worse than this one and he had been directly involved in helping get people to safety.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for this decidedly pathetic act. There was no logic to it and it didn't seem destined to have any lasting impact. And for what purpose? None, that I could see. Indeed, if anything, this attack made the Turkish people "look good" because their hearts are large enough not to hate. Whomever the perpetrators are can only look less admirable as people in comparison.

When I came back through Taksim later that night to go home, it was if nothing had happened. People got off and on the funicular and climbed up the Metro steps into the Square. Life moved on. Thank you, God, for letting mine move on. Don't think I don't appreciate it.

Click on my title to read the New York Times account of the bombing and here to see CNN International amateur video of the event. The viewpoint in the video is the opposite side of the square from where I was sitting.

Name It. Change It: Sexism and Equality Don't Mix

2010-10-30T18:12:00.001+02:00

This summer, I was without internet access so I got out of the blogging habit. I'll eventually get around to sharing my adventures since coming back to Europe but for now, bear with me as I get all of my thoughts out about current events.

Frequently, on an expat blog like mine, the expat writing describes and explains the locals to the audience back home. Today I want to do the opposite. Czech Ladies, this post is especially for you. I want to explain American thinking to you because our cultural gap is GIGANTIC on what I'm about to describe. You can chose to tell me later that we Americans have it all wrong in the comments section.

Back home in America, there's a hotly contested midterm election. My friends back in the States are suffering through an average eight robo-calls a day (automatically-dialed, tape-recorded phone messages that tend to arrive during dinner time), 30-50 political ads on TV every day (each one describing the other guy as a loser and the candidate in the commercial as a saint), and more election anger, zaniness, over-the-top media hyperbole than you would expect any democracy to be able to survive (the jury is still out on ours - we'll see).
Into this crazy, over-the-top American election cycle (with more secret money than ever - almost $4 billion), a new advocacy organization started to try and hold media types accountable for how they choose to talk about female candidates. The name of the group is called "Name It. Change It." Here's how they describe their mission:

Widespread sexism in the media is one of the top problems facing women. A highly toxic media environment persists for women candidates, often negatively affecting their campaigns. The ever-changing media landscape creates an unmonitored echo chamber, often allowing damaging comments to exist without accountability.

We must erase the pervasiveness of sexism against all women candidates — irrespective of political party or level of office — across all media platforms in order to position women to achieve equality in public office. We will not stand by as pundits, radio hosts, bloggers, and journalists damage women's political futures with misogynistic remarks. When you attack one woman, you attack all women.

I read that and said, sign me up! I'm a 1970's feminist. Feminist activism was the ferment of my youth. Indeed, the feminist heroine of my twenties, author Gloria Steinem, was one of the founders of this new group (Czech ladies, the definition of that word in America is not "woman who henpecks her husband" as it is in the Czech Republic - I don't even have a husband. It is woman who believes in Equal Rights for Equal Work, etc.). I knew there was a need.

Yet, even I - someone who pays a lot of attention to this stuff - had no idea how much need! Every day "Name It. Change It." shares a different sexist media outrage. When someone takes the time to organize and send media examples day after day after day, the toxicity of America's misogyny toward women is baffling and mindblowing.

Imagine if you were a Harvard-educated physician running for Governor, and your local newspaper declared that what you were a prime candidate for - was a makeover! Or imagine this: as a candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to ever achieve 18 million votes for the office, you wake up to find a famous news and opinion aggregator is wanting readers to evaluate the hair clip you wore to the U.N - " is it a do or don't?" It happened to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Yes, I know, she'll survive. But once you have put the time and work in to reach a certain level, you'd expect to be treated with some gravitas. One of America's shakier Senate candidates, a political novice named Christine O'Donnell of Rhode Island, is the subject of an anonymous severe misogyny attack. "Name It. Change It." describes sexism in the media according to this pyramid of egregiousness.

So this week I was reading their latest missive and it's not about American elections, it's about Czech elections! Apparently, the ladies you've elected have chosen to model in a calendar that emphasizes their body parts over their policy positions. Hence, our unbridgeable cultural gulf! American women decry the treatment of a candidate who gets discussed in the media like this but if your female politicians are voluntarily choosing to pose for a pin-up calendar, are they not asking to be accepted based on how they look, not how they believe and vote?

I remember being in the room once with a bunch of Czechs politicians. By the end of the night, it came out that the most respected man in the room was the one with bright red cheeks and the biggest belly in the room. Not a single ounce of him was judged on his looks. But every man at my table spoke of him with admiration. Reversibility is a key measure of media equality - that Czech politician would never need to, be expected to, or want to pose for something like a pin-up calendar to inspire voters.

Ask yourself, Czech ladies, if your female politician's calendar impedes achieving the gravitas needed to gain that level of respect. It's not useful for you to say that the standards are different for women. They'll never be different if you don't ask for them to be different. Name It. Change It.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Americans, if you want to support the work of this exciting new group, you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter. What leaders you would be - there are less than 1,500 people following their work to date - they are simply that new. Once, you sign up to follow Name It. Change It., can you ask your friends to follow them too? Election season will soon be over. If you're a journalist, I would suggest following them as well. Heightened sensitivity to how media plays into old archetypes brings progress in coverage. Name It. Change It. Sexism and equality don't mix!

Czech People Overlooked Yet Again for the Nobel Peace Prize

2010-10-28T05:01:00.018+02:00

I am sure that 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo of China is a brave and amazing person who puts mere mortals to shame. However, it made me sad this year to hear that yet another year passed without Vaclav Havel receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. It would have been so moving for him to receive the most prestigious decoration humanity offers - last year - when the Czech Republic was celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. It could have been one giant festival of appreciation between President Havel and the Czech people who helped him transform their nation.

Instead of using the prize as a carrot and a capstone for a statesman's career, it seems the Nobel committee wants to use the prize as an accelerator of change, demanding almost through recognition that winners and their governments conform to what the Nobel Committee thinks should happen. This cheapens the prize in my opinion because it switches it from honoring the noblest and bravest among us to having a political motivation.

Last year, when Barack Obama won, I was offended, because I felt that as President he would need to make decisions that could be at odds with the Peace Prize goals. It felt manipulative to me, as an American, that the Committee would try and influence the course of his Presidency while it happened.

My emotions conflicted, though, because I recognized that anyone who voted for Barack Obama could feel a bit of pride in the Nobel Committee's contention that no one of that particular year had done more to change the landscape than Barack Obama. Since he had been in office such a short time, the American people could be proud that we had changed the landscape with new leadership.

I remember when I got on my half-full bus at 6 a.m.on that bleary day, I shouted out to the whole bus "how about that Peace Prize?" I was living in Madison, Wisconsin at the time where there was close to a 100% certainty that anyone on a bus in that town had voted for the President.

The Peace Prize selection glory reflects to those who followed. No one can be a prophet without followers. Vaclav Havel was the statesman he was because the Czechs chose to follow him. Barack Obama was elected President because the people of America chose to follow him.

Vaclav Havel's moral authority transitioned the country from Communism to freedom without violence and retribution in the Velvet Revolution and again to the stand-alone Czech Republic during the Velvet Divorce with Slovakia. How fraught those giant changes were and how much worse they could have been!

Even in retirement, Havel's moral authority can slice through rationalizations made in the name of strategic interests. Once, meeting with an American reporter for an interview, he asked, "Is it true Barack Obama cancelled his meeting with the Dali Lama?" (presumably to pacify China's leadership). Havel demonstrates the courage it takes to speak truth to power when your own country's is less.

America is comng to the age where our power will be eclipsed in size by China. Havel's success in keeping true to his values while navigating this size differential between the Czech Republic and the former Soviet Union is an example the whole world can learn from as the globe copes with China's rising, and frequently bullying, power.

One measure of a leader is how institutionalized the changes he embodied becomes; yearly, the citizens of the Czech Republic set new attendance records at the internationally-famous "Jeden Svet (One World) Film Festival in Prague, devoted to human rights around the globe. Czech people, having lived through totalitarianism, have a sophisticated understanding of oppression that is rarely found anywhere in the Free World. Havel, and the citizens of the Czech Republic, have something to teach all global citizens about what it is to speak truth to the larger power.

As I understand it, Liu Xiaobo and his fellow Chinese dissidents who created Charter 08, were inspired by Vaclav Havel and the Czech people who were signatories to Charter 77. Would a science Nobel go to a scientist whose work was derivative of another's theory? Wouldn't the committee honor the original thinker of the idea? Shouldn't Vaclav Havel receive a Nobel for inspiring freedom in the Czech Republic but now also China? It seems he is becoming worthier and worthier. Is there not time to honor that young man and not much time to honor Vaclav Havel?

Czech Women Seek Horrifying Plastic Surgery

2010-10-27T17:35:00.001+02:00

How great can culture shock be when you become an expat? I didn't actually hear about this in the Czech Republic, instead coming across the article in American news and opinion aggregator "The Huffington Post." Regardless, it's jaw-dropping. We have a word for this in English: it's 'misogyny.' But since these ladies are doing this to themselves, maybe it falls under the category of 'self-hatred' or 'body dysmorphic disorder?' Click on my title to read the article (not suitable for work or minors).

New Prague Pub Celebrates Czech Beers

2010-10-26T04:24:00.000+02:00

What's on tap at the Prague Beer Museum?

Here's a story that could prompt every reader to think, "Gee, I wish I'd thought of that." It's so deceptively, brilliantly simple an idea that there is no way it could not possibly succeed. Someone has started a Prague Beer Museum with the idea of collecting some of the nation's' best brews in one place for beer aficionados to sample. Brilliant! Click on my title to read the whole article.

Are Guidebooks Facing Extinction?

2010-10-06T04:19:00.000+02:00

Travel writer Benji Lanyado in Vienna

Should he be looking at his phone instead?

My goodness, I never expected to be away from my blog for so long. This week I expect to begin blogging again, so I invite you back. In the meantime, I was fascinated by this article and wondered if other people are using suggestions specific to the moment as you travel? Is a newly-printed guidebook too out-of-date for you the minute it is printed? Are you turning to locals real-time via Twitter for suggestions? Click on my title to read how one traveler does it.

Thanks for following!

2010-07-24T14:13:00.000+02:00

I feel like I've been on vacation from my blog - gee, I didn't even need one! I was having fun posting almost daily. So while I can't really do my regular blog posts until I get internet access installed, I would like to celebrate reaching a count of 40 followers of my blog! Thank you so much for following, I love hearing your feedback and hearing about your adventures too. If you're not a follower yet, why not sign up today? It's an easy way to know when I'm "back at it" and posting to my blog.

"Empty Nest Expat" Just Named Among Top 50 Blogs for Expatriates

2010-07-10T11:37:00.001+02:00

Yea! I may not be able to post right now without steady Internet access but I still have plenty of readers coming to my site. Thank you everyone for reading.

I just learned that 'Empty Nest Expat' was handpicked as one of the "Top 50 Expatriate Blogs" by Business Degree Online. I'm #32. I recognize quite a few other blogs I enjoy on the list. Thanks for the honor. You can click on my title to see the full list of blogs.

Thanks for caring!

2010-07-06T13:26:00.000+02:00

One of my loyal readers contacted me and said, ''Are you alrıght? You haven't posted since the 14th of June.'' Thank you, Karin, for caring!

I just moved into a new place and don't have internet access yet. New posts should start soon when I'm wıred. I have so much to tell.

Bye for now!

Karen

Empty Nest Expat

Empty Nest? Not All Parents Are Sad About It

A Birthday Hike in the Belgrad Forest

Last Meal in the Lubéron

Scenes from Farmer's Markets in the Lubéron

Taking in the Provencal Village Charm of Cadenet, France

The Best View in Cadenet, France is Now Free to All

What is a cèpe exactly?

Provencal Breakfasts to Savor

My First Provencal Market at Loumarin

Rendevous at La Maison Rouge

Provence Inspires Me to Make My First Tart

The Start of a Week in Provence

"You're My Al Bell!"

Grateful to Miss Out on America's Media Obsessions

My 7 Links Blog Project

The Ottoman Empire from the other side as told in "The Bridge on the Drina"

Hanging out the with Expat Harem at the Istanbul Simulcast of the TEDGlobal 2011 Conference

Expat Envy on the 4th of July

Yes, the Czech Republic is really like this

"The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria

New York Times asks its readers "Why Do We Travel?"

Bloggers Unite! Celebrate World No Tobacco Day

Dental Overreach

What Creates Compassion?

Who Was Atatürk?

Blogger Censorship Finally Ends

Checking Out the History of Dissidents: New Vaclav Havel Library to Open in 2013

So, Are You Thinking About Becoming an Expatriate?

Things My Mother Taught Me

World Press Freedom Day: Lara Logan Breaks Her Silence

Turkish Government issues list of 138 forbidden words on websites

What Did You Think of the Royal Wedding?

Religion will be 'nearly extinct' in the Czech Republic by 2050

Prague's Anglican Minister: The Reverend Ricky Yates

The Czech President Pockets A Pen

Europe Takes Note as Norway Smashes Through the Glass Ceiling

Empty Next Expat Chosen as a Top Expat Blog by Tripbase

This Blog is Censored in Turkey

If It Were My Home: Comparing Sweden to the United States

Visiting Sweden: If This is Socialism, Sign Me Up!

What Idea(s) Captured Your Imagination in 2010?

The Swedish Tourist Attraction That Didn't Attract Me

Visiting the Nobel Museum

Daydreaming at Stockholm City Hall

There is No Need to Save Face in Sweden

A Week in Sweden

Top Five Posts for 2010

Does the World Need the Opposite of a Nobel Peace Prize?

WWII was worse for Central Europe than even our histories and memories tell us

St. Clement's Anglican English-Speaking Church Services will be broadcast globally this Christmas on BBC Radio 4

Celebrating Those Who Celebrate the Best In Humanity

Heda Kovaly, Czech Who Wrote of Totalitarianism, Is Dead at 91

Starting My Third Year Without a Car

Not All Who Travel Must Leave Their Armchair

Pray that the Road is Long

Celebrating My 50th Follower!

I Saw a Suicide Bombing in Istanbul Yesterday

Name It. Change It: Sexism and Equality Don't Mix

Czech People Overlooked Yet Again for the Nobel Peace Prize

Czech Women Seek Horrifying Plastic Surgery

New Prague Pub Celebrates Czech Beers

Are Guidebooks Facing Extinction?

Thanks for following!

"Empty Nest Expat" Just Named Among Top 50 Blogs for Expatriates

Thanks for caring!