On Sunday morning I saw a news story about Yazidi women who were kidnapped by ISIS militants. These Christian women were made slaves after their men were executed. Their only hope of release is to be bought by other family members who escaped and now live in refugee camps. The tragic story was on my […]

One day can make a big difference. On Thursday the air pollution was so bad the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Beijing had gone off the index. Though I work in a building with filtered air, it was an unwelcome distraction. I regretted not bringing my mask for the short walk between the Embassy and

The news these days seems to be all bad. Besides the terrible things that continue to happen in the traditionally troubled parts of the world, a steady flow of tragedies are occurring in unexpected places. Today in France terrorists were shot dead by Police after they had killed many other people. Paris is generally thought

We just returned from a visit to Hong Kong. A popular tourist destination, it is also a center of high finance and business. Our hotel was fancy by our standards, offering extravagant lunch and dinner buffets that always seemed crowded. As we toured the island, our guide pointed out the nicer neighborhoods where apartments can

I was born into a working-class family in the US. We moved a lot and about time we would get “settled” my mother, who suffered from depression, would get sick and be put in the hospital. My brothers and I would stay with our grandmother until my Dad would start all over in another place,