I was living in Lima, Peru when the first episode of House came on the air. Part of the joy of music, film, books, and television is how they can evoke nostalgia for certain moments in your life. Watching an old show can help drudge up fond memories long forgotten.
I remember watching the first two or three seasons of House before I became bored and moved onto other things. This was before streaming, so the show became less compelling if you happened to miss a few episodes.
This year, partially as a result of the pandemic, my wife and…
Let’s face it. The dating game is hard. From birth, you’re raised with a bunch of stupid ideas of how important it is to “be yourself” and find somebody “who loves you for who you are.”
Wrong!
All that nonsense is like step 85 of a relationship. Step one is more akin to going to the grocery store. It doesn’t matter if you’re buying something as mundane as a pack of coffee filters. Ultimately, the factor that’s going to determine what brand you reach for is the packaging.
The great thing about writing dating advice is that it can be…
When you are part of an expat community, you have the opportunity to meet a lot of strange people. In the 10 years I spent living in Lima, Peru, and I met quite a few millionaires. Many of them were among the stupidest, most incompetent people I’ve ever encountered.
There are a lot of articles on the internet which attempt to detail what it takes to become a millionaire. They say you have to get up at 4 AM and be ready to outwork everyone around you. …
Many of us have emerged from the pandemic with a new perspective on life. Among the things we have discovered is how efficient we are at doing our jobs remotely. This realization will radically alter how we perceive our professional obligations.
After all, if you can work remotely, why not engage in a perpetual state of travel? What’s stopping you?
The Art of Slow Travel by Bhavana Gesota is a guide book for reconstructing your life in a way that allows you an enormous amount of freedom. …
In college I had a professor who was involved with NASA on sending a satellite to one of the moons of Jupiter. He was very well-regarded in his field, and we were lucky to have him at our relatively small state university.
One day in class he told a story about how he went to a professional seminar and a person giving a lecture clearly didn’t know what he was talking about. Our professor related to us how the audience systematically ripped the lecturer to shreds.
In my professor’s words, the scene became very uncomfortable. He admitted, almost in embarrassment…
I’ve finished the manuscript I’ve been working on with my kids. It’s funny to think that the only printed copy of that book in the world is contained in a three ring binder beneath their beds.
Routine is often a creativity killer, so I greatly appreciated the opportunity to embrace this new method of composition. Writers need feedback, and kids are always honest. Reading the chapters of the day each evening showed me both what was wrong with the chapters and gave me insight into where I should take the story.
There were a few chapters that had my girls…
I just want Trump supporters to feel the same anxiety reasonable people have had to endure for the last for years. The problem is that I’m not a deranged terrorist lunatic like they are.
They are happy to attack my children with dog whistles to white supremacists. That puts me at a disadvantage because I refuse to respond in kind.
The reason is, I’m not a piece of human filth. I’m not going to turn around and attack the innocent in retaliation to their horrible behavior.
So what can I do? How can I hurt them in a way that’s…
It’s up to all of us to trace the roots of white supremacy in our own lives. Whether you recognize the influence or not, we’ve all been tainted. White supremacy permeates our culture and has fused itself with our families and our institutions.
Yesterday, I found myself reflecting on how long the cowardice and ignorance of white supremacy have been a negative influence on my life. I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, and there was a system of suppression against Native Americans firmly in place.
Growing up, I could never put my finger on what was wrong. As a child…
When you have an epiphany, comprehension is instantaneous. There is no gradual build-up. You simply transform from a state of not knowing to a state of knowing. It can be a life-changing moment, unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to convey how it happens.
We’ve all had experiences of having epiphanies. One you might remember is the moment you learned how to ride a bike. There is no steady improvement. One moment you can’t ride a bike and the next moment you can. Understanding simply snaps into place.
It’s frustrating that this kind of knowledge is almost impossible to teach. You can’t…
Imagine if somebody really hurt one of your children. Imagine if they lost their temper and punched your child in the face with sufficient force to break the eye socket and inflict permanent vision impairment.
Now, imagine if a few days after this attack, the offending party showed up at your house and expected to hang out like nothing had ever happened. “Oh, you’re not still mad about that are you? I lost it for a moment, but it’s okay now. It’s time to let bygones be bygones. …
Small press writer with Perseid Press, Burning Bulb Publishing, and Harren Press. I have a web page about Peru at www.StreetsOfLima.com. walterrhein@gmail.com