Exit Through the Gift Shop — I hopped a reasonably pleasant and moderately priced train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, a wee bit over an hour’s journey costing just under £15. En route, I encountered vivid memories of my college landscape architecture professor and his appealing and occasionally undecipherable (for an American) Glaswegian accent. His name was…

For me, the most amusing take on Oppenheimer, and I'm not sure it is meant to be amusing, is a headline in a NY online newsletter called The Upper West Side Patch. The header reads: "UWS Man Subject Of Popular New Christopher Nolan Movie".

Was My Phoner with a Phony? — Do you believe in magic? During the last few weeks, a brouhaha has emerged in the worldwide community of magicians concerning the noted spoon-bender and self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller. Published on July 8, a lively feature article in The New York Times by David Segal states that magicians have finally…

Oh, Charles, Who Are You? Who Who Who Who? — I arrived in Edinburgh early on the Fifth of July, eager to enjoy cool weather and to greet an illustrious city new to me. After depositing my bags at a well-located but decidedly unappealing Airbnb, a room painted in stained hospital green as sterile as an actual hospital, with nothing…

The MAGA Right Doesn’t Own the Stars and Stripes — On Memorial Day, I had promised (threatened if you prefer) to wear an American flag jumpsuit on the 4th of July. Waving our flag, even sartorially, does not mean I am part of the MAGA right. I refuse to allow the Trumpies to requisition the red, white, and blue flag…

The Soul/Sole of Spain’s Costa del Sol in Three Days — The walls are high, perhaps ten feet. I can’t see over them, but I hear screeching children. They are emitting joyful sounds. …

My Week in Calpe and its Surroundings — From Madrid, the train roars closer to the coast. The rocky terrain is orange, sometimes a pale tangerine shade and sometimes darker, almost burnt sienna. I arrive on time at 3 p.m. …

Days One and Two in the Spanish Capital — I was a first timer; a woman alone, with just a smattering of Spanish words, although a translation app was downloaded to my phone. I flew out of JFK on American, with merely an hour’s delay due to a last minute change in pilots. Did the first one not pass…

Days Three and Four in the Spanish Capital — Day 3 I breakfast on some proffered yoghurt from my host Maria, followed by cafe con leche and a croissant at a bakery around the corner. My third day features a visit to the third exalted art museum, the Reina Sofia, which is also, like the other two, less than…