Like most American kids of my generation, I learned This Land Is Your Land as a children’s song, never thinking much of its meaning. A decade or two later, I heard Bruce Springsteen’s version of it on his Live 75-85 set. His introduction first got me thinking about its meaning, especially in contrast to God Bless America. I didn’t know Woodie Guthrie wrote This Land Is Your Land as an[…] Keep reading →

I find this picture of the Eiffel Tower beautiful. A guy named Tristan Nitot took the picture and posted it for people to share and enjoy in a post called “This photograph is free.” He posted it in response to some other guy whose name I don’t know who posted a picture he took entitled “This photograph is not free.” I won’t link to him because I’m afraid he might attack[…] Keep reading →

Continuing favorite moments from part 2, yesterday Joseph Joseph said he liked the shooting range most. Here he is at the range. Neil Neil said that the mausoleum holding Kim Il Sung’s body was his favorite moment for the over-the-top rigmarole they put visitors through, making it unintentionally amazing — in particular the giant, full-body blow driers. He described it as over-the-top propaganda and I found it hard to see[…] Keep reading →

Continuing favorite moments from part 1, yesterday Josh My favorite moment was learning that the sailor who led the tour of the USS Pueblo was a member of the original boarding party of the ship. I felt he had communicated a message to take what we had learned there and use it to help promote peace, a different message than most of the government-promoted messages. Learning his role made the[…] Keep reading →

Toward the end of our week in North Korea I asked all my travel group-mates what they considered their favorite moment of our trip and why. Jordan Jordan liked playing Frisbee most for interacting with kids. Here he is with some kids he threw the frisbee with, in a picture by Joseph Ferris. Alex Alex said he liked the Mass Games for the spectacle, emotion, synchronicity. Here he is at[…] Keep reading →

I wrote the following on Hacker News and thought it fit here. Last week I self-published my first book. My visit to North Korea last year amazed me at how much we base our impressions of North Korea on pre-conceived notions. I already blogged daily, but the experience affected me so much I started posting twice daily, one post on North Korea. Then Kim Jong Il died and tons of[…] Keep reading →

To wrap up this extended series on food, I’ll summarize most of it in the form of advice: Eat what you feel is right for you. The more you learn and think about food the more you’ll enjoy it. Anyone who tells you what you should or shouldn’t eat is moralizing and meddling. Eating has no right or wrong. In the time I’ve written this series I’ve eaten more vegetables[…] Keep reading →

I used to love Vice Magazine. I still like it a lot. Ten years ago or so I would scour the East Village for copies when it came out, back when no one knew to associate its back-cover American Apparel ads with harassment lawsuits. I saved copies for years to reread articles I enjoyed. I think I went to some of their parties, but I forget. I appreciate that it’s[…] Keep reading →

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let’s continue with anatomy, the next on my list of a few days ago. This reason makes little sense to me, but I hear it regularly. People who eat meat point out things like that most predators have[…] Keep reading →