Published in Change Becomes You·14 hours agoThe Stuff of LivesA minimalist approach to moving abroad. — Since posting the story and image of the four bags we arrived in Sicily with, many people have asked if that’s all we brought from our previous lives in America, and after being told that it was in fact all we brought, they wanted to know what things did we…Travel4 min read
Published in A Parent Is Born·6 days agoThis is a MistakeReflection on Father’s Day — It is always there, lurking, but fleetingly, as if the tendrilled remnants of some dream, or like a mayfly buzzing too close to the river’s dark surface — small, fitful, gone — no ripple of the dream from which even to rise, nothing to dream of at all. …Fatherhood4 min read
Jun 9The Festival of San SilvestroTroina, Sicily Traditions Troina, the town in which we’ve chosen to settle in Sicily, is a very ancient city and was throughout both Greek and Roman times an important military stronghold due its geographical status, which, as you can see, offers commanding views in every direction, from Mount Etna to…Sicily2 min read
May 26Food for ThoughtStop stuffing our faces and find pleasure again in what we eat — Gioacchino Rossini, the Italian composer famous for The Barber of Seville, wrote once that appetite is to the stomach what love is to the heart. If that’s true — and I have every reason to believe it is — then Sicily is both Demeter’s fork and cupid’s arrow. You wouldn’t…Food2 min read
Published in Change Becomes You·May 20Taking StockAnd starting fresh in sunny Sicily. — It begins months, maybe years even, before you are born. The great pursuit, acquisition and assemblage of stuff. To keep and grow it we build houses around it, attach garages and rent sheds to park it, pound nails in order to hang it, buy locks to secure it, and make…Travel2 min read
Published in Change Becomes You·Dec 5, 2021Why 30 Days Abroad Was No VacationAnd why coming back was no homecoming. — The disposable gloves, the hand sanitizer and disinfectant, the blue surgical face masks (eventually replaced by colorful, but less effective, cloth-covered ones), the fear of touching and the worry of not touching, the isolation and six feet of space and a good attitude were all you needed. For the attitude…Travel6 min read
Oct 23, 2021What the road says about longingAnd why we should listen — While in Sicily we developed this habit of taking short videos from the passenger seat of the roads we were traveling. We had no intention behind it, other than perhaps we believed that this journey and our time alone together, on these particular roads, would lead us to somewhere special…Travel4 min read
Oct 5, 2021Pros, Cons and CommitmentsThe real impediments to change — We leave our homes with a map and all the sayings: It’s the journey that matters. Not all who wander are lost. Destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things. A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. While all true…Self Improvement3 min read
Published in Change Becomes You·Sep 5, 2021Essential SiciliaWhen travel becomes less about filling every moment with purpose and more about finding purpose in every moment. — When people give reasons for travel, one or two usually float to the surface. To visit family or friends. Seek better weather. Discover new cultures. For love. Or, for some, in order to find themselves. Whatever the reason, we leave our homes, our bags packed, with hope and huge expectations…Travel6 min read
Published in Change Becomes You·Aug 17, 2021Starting a Paid Newsletter?Who do we think we are? — When Franca and I first opened our neighborhood, sourdough bakery, the only one of its kind in Tarboro, NC, the small rural town to which we had moved for that purpose, we were eager to share ourselves and our baked goods with the community. It was our first foray into…Writing5 min read
