An old friend just put me in touch with a young man who is starting a journalism career. My advice to him is pretty commonplace: Start local. Approach the local newspaper editor about covering municipal and school board meetings on a freelance basis; most editors need this sort of thing done and don’t have enough… Read More »
There’s been a lot of talk about the future of the Peace Corps. Let’s clear things up a bit. First of all, the Peace Corps is still accepting applications for volunteers and is continuing to send new people out into training. It is continuing to swear in new volunteers. Some countries of service are shutting… Read More »
I’ve been back in Ohio for a while now. I realize I haven’t updated this blog since mid-January, so I should do that. I enjoyed Spain. It was embarrassing that on my first day in Madrid, I accidentally said “faleminderit” instead of “gracias,” especially after so many times when I accidentally used a Spanish word… Read More »
Hola, amigos. How you doing? I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but don’t worry; I’m not going to keep the Jim Anchower style going. I’m pretty sure Anchower would never use a semicolon. I haven’t updated this blog since early December. Since then, I’ve gone to Slovakia, Türkiye, Malta… Read More »
My Peace Corps service is now over. On Tuesday, Dec. 3, I went through all of the procedures necessary to end my service, including returning various items issued to me such as a bike helmet, fire extinguisher, smoke detector, Albanian and Macedonian dictionaries and a slew of other books. I also went through a final… Read More »
I’m about to finish my service. Next week, I’ll be at the Peace Corps office in Skopje to get a final medical checkup, deal with a bunch of paperwork, then ring a ceremonial bell to mark the end of two years of service in North Macedonia. One of the last things I did was attend… Read More »
What just happened with Donald Trump in a New York court, and what does it mean for the future? I’m writing this mostly for the benefit of my non-American friends, but some Americans who haven’t been following the news may find it informative as well. Let’s start with this: I’m writing this strictly on my… Read More »
OK, I’ve been running for some time now and I’ve improved my health quite a lot. I’ve gone from pretty badly obese (a body mass index of more than 35) to only slightly overweight (a BMI of 26.8). Back in April, I ran my first 5K race. I had to take a couple of walking… Read More »
What’s going to happen with the U.S. House of Representatives? The slim Republican majority can’t agree on whom to speak as speaker of the House. Most wanted Steve Scalise, but enough wanted right-wing firebrand Jim Jordan that Scalise wouldn’t go through a public vote for speaker. As I write this, Jordan is planning for a… Read More »
My running continues to make progress. On Sunday, Oct. 1, I finished the 5K race that’s held as part of the Skopje Marathon with a chip time of 34 minutes and 53 seconds. For those unfamiliar with running lingo, “chip time” refers to the time from when the runner crosses the starting line to crossing… Read More »