By David DeVoss When California architect Robert Steinberg opened an office in Shanghai twelve years ago, he felt as if he had arrived at the leading edge of the Chinese Century. Unlike America, where architects were being laid off and signature buildings scaled back, the biggest city in the world’s most populous country was developing…
By David DeVoss Politicians and public health officials tell us we’re all in this together and perhaps we were initially. But then they closed the bars. Next went theaters, churches and entertainment venues. Today, most restaurants are shuttered except for a table by the front door where customers retrieve take away orders. People still can…
By: David DeVoss “In the Arctic half-light of the canyon all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and sounds of the Big Blackfoot River, a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” The moment I read…
Just south of Tajikistan and west of the highway running from Dushanbe down to Kabul sits the tidy Afghan city of Kishem. More than 60,000 people live in the Kishem Valley and once every week nearly all of them walk or ride donkeys into town for provisions. During warmer months sidewalks fill with vendors selling everything from fruit to nuts.
Afghanistan’s 35.5 million people live in a country about the size of Texas. It’s an arid and mountainous place filled with remote mountain valleys accessible only by foot or donkey.
Just south of Tajikistan and west of the highway running from Dushanbe down to Kabul sits the tidy Afghan city of Kishem. More than 60,000 people live in the Kishem Valley and once every week nearly all of them walk or ride donkeys into town for provisions. During warmer months sidewalks fill with vendors selling everything from fruit to nuts.
No matter where you live chances are you want to get out of the house and see some place new. Problem is that, though stay-at-home orders stemming from the Coronavirus are being relaxed, the definition of social distancing remains imprecise.
Only donkeys could traverse the rocky nine-mile track running through fields of opium poppy before the U.S. arrived and
By David DeVoss Los Angeles isn’t such a bad place to be when it comes to social distancing. April’s warm sunshine has replaced the rainy weeks of March. Grocery stores are open and relatively well stocked. There’s no sense of panic despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Rarely do you hear the wail of an ambulance.…
By David DeVoss When travel began to plummet in mid February airlines responded in the usual way: they dropped prices. By the last week in February it was possible to fly round-trip from LA to Montreal for $196 on American. Round trips between United hub cities also fell below $200. But then something unusual…