In the new issue of the Utne Reader are a few reviews I did. One is of Rory MacLean’s great new book, Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India. The other is of the album Espoir, by Burkinabe musician Hermas Zopoula. Both are worth a look, if you get a chance.
Hippies and Afropop
Posted in Africa, Arts in Africa, Books, Clips, Travel Writers on July 4, 2009 by frankburesThe End of Travel?
Posted in Books, Clips, Travel, World Hum on June 24, 2009 by frankburesFrom a recent World Hum piece
about “Non-Places,” and the constant chorus of naysayers about the globalized world: “It seems kind of strange now, but a while back, before airports became the fortresses they are today, I used to visit them occasionally to read and write. I’m not sure what drew me to them—something about the energy, or the equality, or the possibility of the place. You could start on one side of the world, step over a threshold, and in a few hours, begin a totally different life. I loved that feeling of being at the doorway to everywhere.” Read the rest here.
Summer School
Posted in Teaching, Writing on June 22, 2009 by frankbures
For anyone who wants to sharpen up their storytelling skills, look into the history of New (and newer) Journalism, examine some of the new science on the role of narrative, you might be interested in a class I’m teaching at The Loft in Minneapolis called, The Search for Story: Writing Narrative Nonfiction. The description: “To be a successful nonfiction writer these days, it’s not enough to know how to type, to have a blog, or to be able to put an article together. To write powerfully in today’s media environment, you need to be able to
tell great stories. In this class, we’ll look at the evolution of narrative nonfiction and New Journalism. We’ll review some of the master nonfiction writers and learn how to apply narrative techniques in profiles, travel stories, features, and essays. Advanced or professional writers only. Please submit two writing samples (maximum of 5,000 words per sample) or clips to Loft Education by Friday, June 19 (not postmark deadline). Accepted students notified by July 1.“
Your Space
Posted in Words to live by, Writing on June 11, 2009 by frankburesDoris Lessing, from her 2007 Nobel Lecture:
“Writers are often asked, How do you write? With a wordprocessor? an electric typewriter? a quill? longhand? But the essential question is, “Have you found a space, that empty space, which should surround you when you write?” Into that space, which is like a form of listening, of attention, will come the words, the words your characters will speak, ideas – inspiration.”
Titanic Awards and Bad Trips
Posted in Uncategorized on June 8, 2009 by frankburesDoug Lansky has a fun new website called the Titanic Awards dedicated to a seriously unappreciated aspect of travel: The bad trip. As we all know, the worse the trip, the better the story about it. I interviewed Lansky about the site, which features interviews with famous travelers like Tim Cahill and Don George commenting on their worst experiences, as well as surveys and videos like Worst Airsickness, Most Dangerous Intersection, and the one below, Worst Subway Commute.
One Night in Bangkok
Posted in Asia, Books, Clips, Travel Writers, World Hum on May 27, 2009 by frankbures
From a recent World Hum interview with Lawrence Osborne:
Not far from the apartment where my wife and I lived in Bangkok, there was a narrow canal that wound through the city. One night, we laid awake listening as the rain fell in thick sheets. By morning, the canal had swollen over and flooded the streets. All that day, we trudged across the city in water up to our knees, while things we couldn’t see brushed against our legs and got caught in our toes.
In a way, this is what Bangkok always feels like: an opaque place where you can never quite see beneath the surface. Few outsiders understand it, and there is very little good writing on
it. But now, Lawrence Osborne, author of The Naked Tourist: In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall, has given Thailand’s City of Angels the book it deserves. Bangkok Days: A Sojourn in the Capital of Pleasure is a wistful, vivid account of the time he has spent in the capital among the drifting souls that wash up there. I talked to him by phone about the elusive quality of Thai culture, loneliness, and about why Bangkok’s sex trade isn’t really about sex.
For the rest, click here.
Take This Job and Love It
Posted in America, Clips on May 21, 2009 by frankbures
I’ve had a few bad jobs in my time. Among them, cleaning dog crap-filled kennels, doing mind-crushing data entry, and digging through several weeks worth of moldering beer cans at a recycling factory. So when I got a chance to write about a company that lets people try out their dream job, I jumped at it. Even though I’m happily self-employed now, I remember all too clearly this feeling that my life was slowly circling the drain, and the madness to escape. If that rings a bell, read on:
“So what do you know about blades?” asks Joe Waites.
“Not much,” I say.
He sighs, stares at me for a second and seems to feel a kind of weariness as if he doesn’t even know where to begin. Joe strokes his thick red beard, which along with his flowing ponytail makes him look half Viking, half heavy-metal roadie. Finally, he motions for me to follow him further into the sprawling, gritty complex that is Albion Swords, the New Glarus business where I am taking my “Vocation Vacation,” working, as it were, my dream job.
In the next room, on a whiteboard, Joe starts to draw.
“A lenticular blade,” he says with a professorial air, “has a sharp edge and curves up like this. It’s designed for a clean pass through. Dismemberment was never the objective. It was just meant to cut to the bone. All you had to do was touch, and step back.”
He makes a light lunge forward, then moves deftly back. It’s a move designed to bring down the burliest medieval knight.
“But,” I start a question that’s been on my mind. “But what about running someone through?”
“Oh, that’s just to depressurize the abdominal cavity. Have you seen those ‘injury’ videos on YouTube?”
“No.”
“You’ve never seen a stabbing?” He seems genuinely surprised.
“No.”
“Well, it’s nothing but intestines.”
Read the rest here.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Posted in Travel, Words to live by on April 27, 2009 by frankbures
Not long ago, a study came out showing what wise men (like Thoreau, below) have been saying for some time: Experiences are a better use of your money than things. A survey of 154 people found that the benefit from spending money on an experience lasted longer than a thing, which faded after 6-8 weeks. “As nice as your new computer is,” the story quoted study author Ryan Howell as saying, “it’s not going to make you feel alive.”
Other studies have shown similar results, and it’s something those of us who
have been lucky enough to live and travel abroad hear often: “Man, I wish I would have done that.” Not that it makes life a big bowl of cherries, but when you’re looking back, the things you did will surely bring you more pleasure than the things you had. Mark Twain may have said it best: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
Posted in America, Books, Clips, Writers on April 20, 2009 by frankbures
A review of Wells Tower’s new short story collection here.
