This week marks my first foray into international travel in a year and a half. That is, since the beginning of the pandemic. I am currently in Medellín, Colombia. I will start my exploration of this beautiful country by identifying ten famous Colombians. Famous Colombians: Number One Singer Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoli is a global […]
This post on Famous Burmese first appeared in July, 2019. After the military coup in Myanmar yesterday, I will repost over the next few days several of the blogs I wrote during my visit there. I’d like my readers to be able to inform themselves about the country from some of my first-hand observations. What […]
In advance of Thanksgiving, CBS ran a feature on food. The segment “Celebrating Black Influence on American Cuisine” introduced Marcus Samuelsson. Over two years ago I included him in my blog Ten Famous Ethiopians. (He’s also now the title image.) During the pandemic I am reposting blogs that once again become relevant. Here’s what I […]
I thought coming up with a list of famous Miamians would be a snap. In fact, it was not. The difficulty arose from the complexity and dynamism of the city itself. More simply said: it’s not easy to figure out who counts as a Miamian. For the title image I finally chose Gloria Estefan. She […]
This past week I hung out in Balchik, Bulgaria. Thus I had the opportunity to speak with the locals about famous Bulgarians. Once again, I had lots of fun with my project. People the world over like to name who among them deserve a claim to fame. Famous Bulgarians Historical: Inventors Saints Cyril and Methodius […]
Where to start? There are so many famous Japanese. Title image: Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543-1616), founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that effectively ruled Japan from 1600 – 1868. I did not, however, include him on my list below. I focused on more recent figures. But, as historical figures go, Tokugawa was a bad ass. Famous Japanese: […]
(Un)translatables – my term – are words in one language that may take a paragraph to explain in another language … and still not quite get it right. (Title Image: Hokkaido University, kanji: ‘Japanese language’) All languages have them. Japanese has some really good ones. (Un)translatables in Japanese: The Bad #1 . hikikomori hiki = […]
When I go to a new place, I now practice anchoring my experience by finding out about the country’s famous people. I always ask locals for suggestions. Naturally, I asked Koreans for some famous Koreans. However, I didn’t have to ask anyone for my #1. Famous Koreans: Historic King Sejong (1397-1450) is my first famous […]
After visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Carmel Valley I spent the weekend in San Francisco. Just for the fun of it. There are many ways to visit a city as complex and rich as San Francisco. In this first post on the city I’ll approach it through a list of tourist’s must-sees: San Francisco […]
When I land in a new country I like to ask the locals who their famous sons and daughters are. Well, I just returned home to North Carolina after being abroad for 4 months, and it occurred to me to make a list of famous North Carolinians. Famous North Carolinians: Off the Top of My […]