Tbilisi Opera House
Breaking News. The Opera House, newly restored, opens on Sept 16, 2013 for its 162nd season. I will miss it, I leave Tbilisi on Sept 14. In a 2004 letter I wrote: “The Opera House looks like it came from the tails of Scheherazade, which have probably been preformed there many times.” In 2005 I wrote: “On Thursday Lika took me to the Opera. It was the opening production of the season, which meant, in Georgia, the opera is Abesalom and Eteri (Esther) by Zakaria Paliashvilli. It is kind of the Georgian national opera.” “The plot is sufficiently operatic; a … Continue reading Tbilisi Opera House
Rose Revolution Square, A Transformation.
Rose Revolution Square is still under re-construction. It had two anchors, The Hotel Iveria and the reviewing stand for Mayday parades. One is gone and the other utterly transformed. In 2004 I wrote: “Georgia has some of the screwiest modern Socialist Realism on the planet, including a massive, several story high multi arched reviewing stand for May Day parades that looks like what Le Cobisier would build if he had a commission from McDonald’s. Locals playfully call it ‘Andropov’s Ears.’ Andropov’s Ears is where President Saakashvili reviewed the troops last week and made his saber rattling speech on Adjara.” Andropov’s … Continue reading Rose Revolution Square, A Transformation.
Arab Spring, April 2011
The bridge cleaned up. April 15, 2011, Cairo, Egypt I got into the cab in Cairo and was shocked; the driver was wearing a seatbelt. I hadn’t seen this before. I put mine on. He smiled and said “New Egypt.” New Egypt is being stuck in a traffic jam near Tahrir Square and seeing a citizen in a white t shirt step forward, waving a cigarette like a baton, directing traffic. People are taking responsibility. One friend said “They used to own Egypt, now we do. We have to take care of it.” Or as another said “Before we … Continue reading Arab Spring, April 2011
Arab Spring, Feb 11, Mubarak Steps Down
On February 11, Hosni Mubarak stepped down as President of Egypt. Suzi and I were in Doha, Qatar that night and went out on the streets as soon as we heard he had left power. We were watching the events on Al Jazeera in our hotel room. I looked out the window and across the bay I saw what looked, to me, like a large number of cars for that time of night. We could hear a lot of honking so we set out from the hotel on foot to see what was happening. Doha is a strange place. To … Continue reading Arab Spring, Feb 11, Mubarak Steps Down
Arab Spring, January 2011, Suzi’s Story
Suzi’s McClear was Chief of Party for USAID’s Media Development Program in Egypt. Tuesday, January 25 was a state holiday, Police Day. That day a group of demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square protesting the government. It was a large demonstration but many people thought not much would come of it. The local press tried to ignore it but Suzi got an email from our son, Kevin, who said that international media said Cairo looked like a war zone. From her perspective it was a quiet day. Two days later, Friday, prayer day, a traditional day for protests, social media activists … Continue reading Arab Spring, January 2011, Suzi’s Story
Shulyman Mosque and New Mosque, Istanbul
Topkapi Palace, Istanbul
Topkapi Palace was “headquarters” for the Balkans for several centuries. The “Sublime Porte.” Much of our work in the Balkans was dealing with the remains to three empires, The Ottoman, the Hapsburg and the Evil. Continue reading Topkapi Palace, Istanbul
Blue Mosque, Istanbul.
Istanbul Markets
These pictures are from markets in Istanbul, including the Grand Bazaar. Continue reading Istanbul Markets
Istanbul, Hagia Sophia
The first time I saw the Hagia Sophia in was in 1994. Sixteen years later I returned to Hagia Sophia and was amazed at the restoration of the mosaics that had been covered from its days as a mosque. Continue reading Istanbul, Hagia Sophia
Istanbul, 2010
This is a letter I wrote during a trip to Istanbul from Belgrade, where we lived. The Pictures are street scenes from Istanbul. There are other posts that feature the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Markets, the Topkapi Palace, and Shulyman Mosque … Continue reading Istanbul, 2010
Berlin Wall Fall (Mauerfall) 20 Years Later
November 10, 2009 Berlin, Germany Dear Friends, It was an attempt to recapture the past, to to relive some of the joy we felt in Berlin in 1990 when we watched bulldozers open streets closed for 28 years, to … Continue reading Berlin Wall Fall (Mauerfall) 20 Years Later
Prague, 20 Years Later.
In May 2009 we returned to Prague. It is such a beautiful City I wanted to add this photo gallery taken in 2009 with a better digital camera, along with a letter for that week. May 3, 2009 Prague, Czech … Continue reading Prague, 20 Years Later.
Berlin Contrasts
This post shows two areas of Berlin and how they have changed over 45 years. In 1964 when the leader of our student tour told me that Potsdamer Platz has been the busiest intersection in Europe it was difficult to … Continue reading Berlin Contrasts
Arab Spring, April 6, 2008, A blogging course.
April 8, 2008, Cairo, Egypt Dear Friends, For the past several months we’ve been trying to pull off the first ever course on blogging in Egypt. There is a lot of concern because bloggers have been the ones who exposed police brutality, sexual harassment and bloggers have given people a voice that is denied in state controlled press. The news moves forward on blogs. At the end of Ramadan two years ago several women reported being groped in public, the police denied it so some women bloggers took their cell phones and photographed the groping. The story was picked up … Continue reading Arab Spring, April 6, 2008, A blogging course.
Ubisi Monastery, Georgia
Geguti Monastery
Georgia Road Trip, 2004.
In 2004 I did an evaluation of the Georgian Media Program. I got the chance to travel all across the country. Here are some pictures from Georgia in 2004. Continue reading Georgia Road Trip, 2004.
Stalin
This is a paragraph from a 2004 letter. The markets no longer have Stalin icons. I have not found Stalin Vodka in recent visits and the Stalin statue in Gori was torn down after the war with Russia, although I … Continue reading Stalin
Korcula, Croatia
On Saturday we took a daytrip to Marko Polo’s birth town, Korcula. We went through Korcula on a ferry in 1997 and have wanted to explore it ever since. Korcula is a very small walled city of gothic construction with renaissance flourishes, built on a rocky spit of land at the end of an island. The spit is less than 1000 feet across. The town is laid out to take advantage of the prevailing winds. The summer “maistral” winds come from the west and the streets climbing from the west wall to the centerline are strait to allow the wind … Continue reading Korcula, Croatia
Kosovo, June 1999
In June, 1999, about a week after NATO took control of Kosovo Suzi and I visited Prishtina for the first time. For the next two years we would be regular commuters into Kosovo, based either in Podgorica or Belgrade but managing a media program in Kosovo as well as for Serbia. Dear Friends, It was 4:22. The muezzin’s morning call to prayer drifted through the apartment window with a warm spring breeze. “God is great, prayer is better than sleep.” This time I didn’t sigh my own Christian prayer and drift back to sleep. I had an early appointment. … Continue reading Kosovo, June 1999
Velvet Revolution, 10 years later
In 1999 we lived in Bratislava, Slovakia, working in media development for IREX-ProMedia. Prague was just a 3 hour drive from our home. February 27, 1999 Bratislava, Slovakia This week we drove to Prague to represent ProMedia at an … Continue reading Velvet Revolution, 10 years later
Russia, Vladivostok, 1995
In June 1995 we were working on a radio project in Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East for a month. Our friends from Vladivostok were able to visit us in Khabarovsk and we were able to return a visit to them. This is the part of the weekly letter from June 20 that deals with that visit. June 20, 1995 Khabarovsk Russian Far East Dear Friends, Over the weekend we went to Vladivostok to visit friends and see the city after almost four years. We rode from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok on the final leg of the Trans-Siberian Railroad train, … Continue reading Russia, Vladivostok, 1995
Russia, Vladivostok, 1991
In 1991 Suzi and I kept up our contacts with the Russian Far East. This is an excerpt from an end of the year letter I sent to my family in October 1991. We have continued to maintain contact with the folks who hosted us in Vladivostok. Brian’s “Russian sister” lives in Alaska now, with her mother. 1991 is the 250th anniversary of the Bering-Cherikov voyages of exploration from Siberia to Alaska. 1990 ended with a trip by all four of us to Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. In April some of the people we stayed with in Vladivostok … Continue reading Russia, Vladivostok, 1991