Tag: Recollections
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SAFER, STRONGER AND MORE PROSPEROUS
I don’t know where to start to comment about this insanity. I’ll just share my personal perspective. I’ve always been proud about two things as an American: the Peace Corps and USAID. To me, they are symbols of an altruistic country who deeply cares about humanity. Both are the legacy of an inspirational national leader, […]
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MAKE EARTH GREAT AGAIN (MEGA)
I remember when we believed we could change the world with a poster and a chant. That belief never really left me—just got bruised along the way. But I’m still marching, still stubborn, and still hoping we can learn to love this planet like it’s the only home we’ve got.
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A VOTE FOR COMPASSION
In November 1976 I got my first chance to vote in a US presidential election. I was a newly minted 18-year-old and eager to help shape the course of the nation. I voted for Jimmy Carter. And I’ve never regretted how I cast my first vote. Historians rate President Carter as being in the ‘middle-of-the-pack’ […]
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ASK THE WOMEN
A long time ago a client asked me to document a forestry project in the rural town of Hojancha in northern Costa Rica. I took photos of proud men standing by amazing stands of introduced eucalypts, Gmelina and teak. The trees were grown for both timber and firewood. But I learned the women weren’t too […]
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A POTATO JOURNEY FROM WISCONSIN TO KENYA
I started out begrudgingly planting potatoes for a merit badge in Wisconsin. Decades later, I found myself in Kenya, watching advanced potato breeding at work. From garden patches to in vitro labs, I’ve come to appreciate the science behind every spud, and the people shaping its future.
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THE FIVE CENT BELT
At eight years old, I found myself living aboard a leaking boat in Alaska, taken suddenly from my mother by my father. In that strange and quiet world, a five-cent belt became more than just something to hold up my pants—it became a small anchor of comfort in a drifting life.
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SAKE IN AN IZAKAYA WITH A FRIEND
In December 1981, I was standing on the sidewalk in San José, Costa Rica while watching the Tope parade. A marching band clad in blue uniforms pounded away on their instruments. I looked out amongst the band members and spotted my mate Glen Snyder blowing away on his trombone while keeping in step. Glen and […]
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THE WRITER’S DEN
I had a good job in 1984 at an agricultural research center called CATIE in Costa Rica. I was tasked with writing a complete textbook on agroforestry. It would have taken a year, maybe two. It was a secure job at a very reputable international center. I quit the job after about five months. I […]
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BOLIVIA 1989
When my folks told me that an exchange student from Bolivia would be living with them at the family home in northern Wisconsin I knew right away that a time would come when I would make it truly an ‘exchange’. In July of 1989, I gripped my seat on a plane landing at La Paz’s […]
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