FURTHER AFIELD
Fogbound
Fog in motion plays tricks with light. Coming back from the mainland to the island and re-entering heavy fog, one passes through a transition zone. Clear skies above, fog below, which makes the world as we know it appear weirdly inverted. Wisps of blue-gray light pass through like overhead illumination in a monastery passage, or a sea cave…
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The Childhood Fort
…I saw that maple and poplar trees crowded the streambank, creating a modest sanctuary of dappled shade, and I glimpsed water coursing through. A jumble of junk caught my eye.
Wedged against a tangle of tree trunks in the shadows was a small structure. I sat up attentively to get a better look as we cruised past. A fragment of rusty corrugated sheet metal formed a roof, and a motley collection of planks served as walls. In a flash, I knew it for what it was—a fort…
Bread and Jam, After a Divorce
For an often-strained relationship, that loaf of homemade bread was a nice offering. Perhaps a peace offering, or perhaps his dad gave it as a gentle reminder of happier days, when we all lived together and the house was redolent of the comforting, yeasty scent of fresh-baked loaves…
Why I love African Music
…my introduction to the music from that continent first came, as it did to many Americans, white as well as nonwhite, via Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album. As you may recall, Simon ‘discovered’ and imported a variety of musicians and singers from Soweto, South Africa, principally Ladysmith Black Mambazo. To do so, he essentially defied the cultural boycott imposed by the outside world against South Africa’s apartheid regime…
Christmas is Over, and Dave Hum is gone
Tonight, the kids gone, the house quiet, the holidays over, I started to take the ornaments off the tree. Partway into the job, I decided to put on “Traveling Light”…