One of the strange byproducts of being even slightly famous is that certain stories from your own life become apocryphal tales over time as they are told again and again, each time with more embellishments added. One such tale, based on a true story, is that when I was a high school student in America, I spent an academic year in Israel, officially studying ancient … Continue reading The Ballad of Pangur Bán
There are plenty of daily tragedies ongoing in Romania, especially the chronic mismanagement of this country’s government and natural resources, as I have documented at length elsewhere. But for me one of the greatest standing tragedies in this country is that the classical philosophy texts of Ancient Greece are not part of the curriculum and only specialized scholars at the university ever get exposed to … Continue reading The Ghost of Simonides
I realized this week that I have been a terrible mistake. In hindsight, it’s understandable why I made the mistake. After all, when I first came here to Romania 12 years ago, my life was a lot different. I suffered terribly from insomnia. I worked 100+ hours a week and I lived on the border of a neighborhood where there were shootings and murders all … Continue reading It’s Raining Boys
This has been a very good week and I thank all of you who left messages of support – they were warmly appreciated. I’m grateful to be closer to finding my serenity and joy. I didn’t plan it this way but I spent a good part of week in the company of a couple members of Cluj-Napoca’s homeless community. You might remember from an earlier … Continue reading Down and Out in Cluj-Napoca
With the exhaustion and the injury (healing nicely, btw, for those interested), I’ve spent the last few days in a kind of curious adventure, speaking personally for myself. I divide all human activities into three groups. The first, Sleep, is one of those it seems inconsequential until it’s not kind of deals. If you’re sufficiently sheltered from the wind and the elements and are tired … Continue reading The Entertainment
All Things Romania 