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A lifetime ago, John Fowles’s novel The Magus sent me searching the islands of Greece for a lost Eden. Eventually, I discovered Alonissos, in the Northern Sporades. Forty years later, I went back for the first time.       IF YOU ACCEPT the proposition that the Greek islands have the power to seduce the…

I wrote this for my ‘Road Show’ project about Route 1 (www.us1roadshow.com), but thought ‘Postcard’ readers would also enjoy it. There were a few things you didn’t want to say in my father’s house. ‘Franklin Delano Roosevelt’ was right there at the top of the list. I come from a long line of card-carrying, cocktail-drinking…

Can books change your life? Sure, if you’re lucky, or you find them at the right time. As an 18-year-old college freshman, I discovered Ed Buryn’s Vagabonding in Europe and North Africa. The book is long out of print – this was 1973, mind you – but you can still find the odd copy on…

In 1983 I quit my job as a magazine editor in London to travel the rivers of Africa by public transport. This article about the Upper Nile was written for and sold to The New York Times.  Sadly, it was never published – most likely considered too fringe for the Sunday Travel section.  Despite the…

As 2016 New Year’s resolutions went, few matched the enthusiasm, ambition and fragility of the commitment made by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On January 1st, its 10 member countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – inaugurated the ASEAN Economic Community, a common market whose…

When I was growing up, our house was home to some of the greatest names in jazz and swing. Not a cocktail hour or dinner passed without the presence of Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Erroll Garner and – my personal favorites – Billy Eckstein and Sarah Vaughn. Our extended family – in stereo. My parents…

My first love was Susan Morasky, but my second – and far more enduring – has been Africa. For that I credit Mrs. Walden, my third-grade teacher, who encouraged us to think big. Sadly, even the loves of your life can let you down. In Nairobi last week to promote the Africa Board Fellowship, our…

Some time ago I promised to report out on my high school reunion [‘Time Machine’ below].  Sadly, it’s taken me this long to recover. I’m kidding.  Sort of. I’m not sure what I expected, having been gone so long.  A band?  The Welcome Wagon?  Headlines?  ‘PRODIGAL SON RETURNS.’   ‘MYSTERY SOLVED: CONNECTICUT MAN REAPPEARS AFTER 40-YEAR…