Last night we attended an acrobatic show at the Chaoyang Theater in Beijing.  The hour-long variety show was like a circus, with beautiful costumes, thrilling acts of daring and amazing skills.  The performers began their training as young as six and endure a lot of pain to gain the strength and skill they need […]

If you pay any attention to the news, you know the enemy is preparing to attack on a scale we haven’t seen in recent memory. In fact, we are already at war and casualties are mounting. It’s less obvious because the enemy is hiding his actions and intentions. They have been secretly attacking over social

     A familiar face was in the news today.  Not that I knew her personally, but I remember the intern who was murdered about the time I joined the Foreign Service. With my only daughter in college at the time I understood how devastating the loss must have been for the parents.  The hopes

     I have been living in Beijing for the last two years and this is the driest place I have ever lived.  Beijing is located near the edge of the desert and normal weather patterns rarely bring us rain.  The city has adapted to the dry conditions and seems to get along just fine without

     Joseph Stalin said, “When one person dies it is a tragedy, but when a million die it’s a statistic.”  As the numbers rise, our minds go numb.  We can’t process large scale death.  The individual gets lost in the crowd, even in death.       Why is the attack in Nice getting so much news