Last night I packed my bags for the big safari. A towel, some soap and shampoo, contact lens stuff, insect spray, sunscreen, a change of clothes, and my Fujifilm camera (plus extra battery). Headed off to breakfast with my similarly excited colleagues, and then we went out to the parking lot to the safari vehicles, which were already waiting. Nine…
A long, very well-researched book that covers the band, from the early days in their respective former groups (Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, the Hollies) the group’s initial formation, the countless breakups and reformations, and their solo careers. The book gives great insight into the personal dynamics between the band members: the constant ego clashes (mostly due to Stills’s enormous ego),…
Today marked the last day of the first week of our Mission Rabies Tanzania project. Our assignment today was to go back to an area up in the mountains called Nkoarisambu. A Mission Rabies team had already been there, but the post-vaccine survey revealed that we’d fallen shy of the 70% needed to break the cycle and stop the spread…
I picked this book up in a thrift store for $3, which is surprising since the book was published relatively recently (2019). I still feel like a novice, so the first few chapters – about aperture, shutter speed, focal length, exposure, focusing, and composition – were a helpful review, although the presentation was a little dull. The last few chapters,…
Today was my kind of day. We drove around the Moivaro area, announcing through the loudspeaker that we were in the area, vaccinating dogs and cats for free. Then we parked in a residential area and went door to door, meeting people at their homes to vaccinate their pets. This allows us to walk through all the pathways and trails…
The 33 1/3 series of books are a collection of pocket-sized books that mostly provide a highly detailed analysis of one particular album by a group. Most of the books are short, around 150 pages or so. This book was quite a bit thicker than most, around 225 pages. I wish it was 500 pages, because I couldn’t get enough…
The first two days of this Mission Rabies vaccination drive, we worked “static clinics”. We drive to a place, set up our makeshift clinic, and people bring us their dogs. Today, we did “roaming clinics”. We drive through an assigned area announcing that we’re offering free rabies vaccinations to dogs and cats. When we see someone with a dog, we…
Today we were scheduled to vaccinate at two separate sites. We arrived at our first site around 8:15 and set up shop. A minute later, our team leader Lucy received a phone call informing us that a dog had been hit by a motorcycle on the road nearby. Courtnie and I grabbed our supplies and ran up the road, and saw…
Today is Mission Rabies Tanzania Workday 1, the first day we hit the road and start vaccinating. Didn’t sleep great last night. Still getting used to it being so quiet. I’m up early now, so I’ll start this blog post now and finish it tonight. Last night I packed my backpack with all of the items I think I’ll need…
Mediocre night sleeping last night. It takes a little time to get used to a new bed, plus I’ve been drinking tons of water all day to ward off any potential kidney stones; this is something that I’m prone to in hot climates. I guess it’s working, because I got up to pee twice. After the second time I got…
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a movie on Netflix that was “trending”. The film, Mank, was about Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of the movie Citizen Kane. The movie went into great detail about the writing of the screenplay, and it depicted the studio heads, actors and politics of the time. I enjoyed the film, but all I…
Two years ago, the New York Public Library put together this anthology of articles from their archives to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. The book is broken into three sections: before Stonewall, the Stonewall uprising, and post-Stonewall. The articles consist of all types of writing, from historical accounts to personal diaries to poems and short stories. I…
I woke up today with a start when my iPhone alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. I usually awaken on my own around 6:30, but the very long travel day wore me out, and I slept like a zombie. My room was pretty nice. It’s very big and has a huge bed draped with mosquito netting. Had a very nice…
This book takes you on a tour through fun, happening gay communities where you’d be least likely to expect them: in America’s red states. The author used to be a male Mormon missionary. Now, she’s a woman, married to another woman. As she takes us across the country, we meet some pretty amazing people – activists who are fighting for…
This book has been sitting in my bookcase for years. I certainly understand why it’s a touchstone for so many people. Reading her life story, you really feel and understand the struggles she faced in the Jim Crow south. What starts out as a seemingly happy childhood turns pretty tragic, as she faces constant racism, poverty (at one point living…