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Introducing the 'Who in The World Podcast'

12/21/2020

9 Comments

 
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I'm excited to share a new project with you, a podcast series I’m starting called “Who in the World w/ Norm Schriever.”

Of course, the whole angle is WHO in the world, not WHERE in the world.

That’s because I’m going to chat with the interesting, remarkable, and, sometimes, downright-crazy people I’ve met from my travels and time living abroad. 

I’ve spent a good part of my adult life traveling, and the last decade living in places like Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines. During that time, I’ve run into some of the most amazing people you can imagine. Some of them have become my dearest friends, while others I just shared a few hours or days, or a few beers, with.

This podcast is a forum for me to document their stories, offering a rare, honest glimpse into their lives.

(Check out my very amateurish video intro for the podcast below.)
The format for this podcast will be simple and old-school: just two people and a microphone, preferably over a stiff drink in some end-of-the-world bar (but most likely via a phone call or computer chat these days). It will be audio-only, not a video interview, and I’ll change names or give them nicknames when requested. That way, they can truly open up without censoring themselves. 

It won’t be reserved for people from any country, walk of life, or even language, and some of the podcasts may only run 15 minutes while others will go an hour or longer. 

I’ve wanted to start a personal travel podcast for a long time now. But the more I see (and the more gray in my beard), I realize that what gives life purpose is not just seeing nice beaches or visiting cool places. Those are great, but I want my legacy to be about something more positive and even noble.

Instead, it’s about people. I’ve always been fascinated by the profound differences between people around the world, but also how we’re mostly the same when you really break it down. I guess that’s my personal definition of culture – and God is always in the details when you’re talking about regular people with extraordinary lives. 

I’m still rounding out the list of guests I’d like to invite to be on Who in the World, but so far, we have:

•    A karate world champion and 100-man kumite finisher,
•    A Cambodian genocide survivor,
•    A Caribbean rasta,
•    A Californian mental health and addiction counselor,
•    A Canadian globetrotting surfer,
•    An America who was locked in a Third World jail,
•    A friend who went from Nicaraguan street brawler to successful businessman,
•    A proper Britt who ended up moving to Texas, 
•    An immigration attorney and civil rights advocate,
•    A Hollywood actor who’s an old friend,
•    A sneaker head/shoe designer,
•    and a whole lot more. 

To be clear, this isn’t “big game hunting” for guests just because they’re famous or have any sort of celebrity. Quite the contrary, I want to rap with the simple folks from the four corners of the earth, most of which who’ve never sat in front of a microphone, but all with epic stories to tell.

And I’d also really value your input, since this is all basically a way to introduce all of you to the people I’ve met. 

Who would you like to hear from that I should interview?
Is there any particular background or country you’d like me to highlight?
How about any specific questions I should ask?
What would you like to know about their daily lives or experiences?

Additionally, if there is someone you know who has an amazing story to tell, feel free to introduce us!

I’m excited for you to be a part of the Who in the World podcast, so thanks for your feedback and support!

And look for the first episode of “Who in the World” in January of 2021 on all of the big podcast platforms, YouTube, and this website!

Your friend,
​
Norm  :-) 
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9 Comments

Getting to know Tamarindo, Costa Rica

11/24/2020

5 Comments

 
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Well, this is awkward.
 
Last month I sent you a long, detailed postcard about why I was moving to Las Vegas, Nevada to wait-out the winter/spring of Covid. 
 
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
 
Instead, I chose to relocate down to Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It’s actually a familiar locale, as I lived here from 2011 to 2012 in the land of surf, sun, and pura vida. ​
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I even wrote a book about the experience, South of Normal.
 
And when Costa Rica opened up to all U.S. tourists on November 1st, I thought it was the healthiest and best place for me, mind, body, and soul.
 
I’m sure I’ll write about my new/old home, Tamarindo, a lot in the next few months, but here are 20 quick observations to get us started. After all, things move slowly in Tamarindo, and there's no need to rush or stress.
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1. Tamarindo is actually named for a tree and the orange-like fruit here in Costa Rica. Tamarindo trees are found all over the Guanacaste province and look like the wide, leafy arbors with high canopies that you'll see in African landscapes. The pod's contents can be mashed to make an edible pulp and juice, which is perfect on a hot day on the beach. 

2. Tamarindo sits on the pacific northwestern coast of Costa Rica, in the province of Guanacaste and the Santa Cruz canton (the closest small city.) But I prefer to pinpoint Tamarindo just by its map coordinates of latitude: N 10° 18' 0.43" and longitude: E 85° 50' 24.47". 
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Come to think of it, that would make a cool tattoo!
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3. “Tama," as it's sometimes affectionally called, may be world-renowned, but it's a small village, or pueblo, that spends maybe a couple of miles by a mile at most. The last census accounted for only 6,000+ residents, and I've heard there are still only about 10,000 now. 

4. There are a good number of high-end condos and modern developments but they've also carefully curbed zoning, so it doesn't get too commercialized or the ocean view blocked out (with the exception of one monstrosity of a condo complex in the center of town that I have no idea how it was approved). 

​5. In Tamarindo, there are only two main roads through town and about half of them are unpaved. You won’t even find street names or street signs, but people give directions like, “200 meters north from the hotel Botella de Leche” or something like that. 
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6. You’ll also see more bicycles, motorbikes, ATVs (many with surfboard racks!), and the rare horse on Tamarindo’s roads than you will cars!

7. The big draw to Tamarindo is the beach, of course, a 1.5 mile stretch of clean, near-white sand that’s level and sufficiently wide. Life in Tama revolves around the scenic beach, as just about everyone comes out in the early morning to walk their dogs, surf, exercise, or sit and enjoy coffee and brekkie. Surfers and sunbathers do their thing all day, and the beach becomes a social gathering point once again at sunset.

​8. Thanks to its close proximity to the equator, every day has about 12 hours of sunlight, with little seasonal changes (except for rain, of course). Likewise, the water temperature in the Pacific Ocean at Playa Tamarindo ranges between 77-86°F all year, which is never too chilly that you need a wet suit, even if you're in the water for hours.
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9. Speaking of surfing, Tamarindo was put on the map by Robert August and Michael Hynson in the 1960s and 1970s with their iconic Endless Summer II surf film. Tamarindo took off as an international must-surf destination, and August became a legend. He still lives in Tamarindo, and you can see him strolling on the beach from time to time.

10. Costa Rica is known for its natural beauty, flora, and fauna. In fact, the Central American Nation contains only 0.4% of the world's landmass but holds 5% of its total biodiversity. And Tamarindo is no exception, with plenty of monkeys, sloths, lizards, Leatherback turtles, and a stunning array of bird and fish species. 

​11. You might even be able to catch sight of a whale off the coast of Tamarindo, and there are a few sharks from time to time. (But you’re more scared of them than they are of you.) If that makes you a little hesitant to swim or surf, rest assured that the plentiful crocodiles will probably getcha long before a shark will!
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12. You don't find winter, fall, spring, and summer in Tamarindo (or Costa Rica). But you will find a hot and dry season from December to May, and the rainy or green season that culminates in a soaked October. 
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13. While Guanacaste (where Tamarindo is located) is less humid than other jungle or coastal areas, the rainy season is NO JOKE! I write a lot about it in South of Normal, but life is completely different for the residents, Ticos (the name for Costa Ricans), and crazy people who stay during the wet months. 

14. The other thing you’ll find in Tamarindo is that prices spike during the high season from December through April (Easter). You might be able to rent an apartment for $1,000 per month during the slow season, but then they want $1,000 PER WEEK during the high season! It’s bonkers and leads to a lot of scrambling to keep rent reasonable for long-term residents.
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15. This time around, I splurged for a condominium in Playa Langosta, a quiet residential neighborhood on a jungle peninsula adjacent to Tamarindo. There’s only one road in and out, and secluded strips of sand in between rocky crags, a few high-end resorts, and trees growing out of the beach. 

16. There are only a few small restaurants in Langosta and one small grocery store. My condo complex, Peninsula, is way too nice by my humble traveler standards haha, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the two swimming pools and view of the jungle from my balcony.

17. And there's even good Wi-Fi, something that's the bane of my existence because it's hard to find in tropical beach towns around the world. 
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18. Although Tamarindo may be a little tropical hamlet, the food scene is vibrant, cosmopolitan, and international. There are plenty of pizza and Italian restaurants with purveyors and chefs straight from Italy, an Argentinian steak house, Caribbean joints, local fresh seafood, Japanese sushi and Asian fusion, and even Middle Eastern and Indian fare. There are also countless boutique hotels, food trucks, and cafes with creative chefs and plenty of vegan or healthy options like acai bowls and fresh fruit smoothies.  

19. Oh, and if you’re a coffee fanatic, Costa Rican java is some of the best in the world!  

20. Costa Rica has plenty of unique customs, like their national saying, pura vida (pure life). Well, Tamarindo has its own micro-culture as well, a blend of surfer, Rasta, skateboarder, hippie, yoga-d out, chillaxed beach vibe. In Tamarindo, shoes are never required, wearing a t-shirt with sleeves is dressing formally, and “manana” means why do it today when it can be put off until tomorrow!?  
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***
I'll share a lot more about Tamarindo in coming months, but I'll leave you with this: after an incredibley stressful eight months in the U.S., it feels like I can finally breathe again down here by the beach in Tamarindo! 

Your friend,
Norm  :-)
5 Comments

Leaving (for) Las Vegas

10/20/2020

12 Comments

 
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In the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, Nicholas Cage played a successful writer whose life had fallen off the rails due to severe alcoholism. So, he moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death before finding semi-salvation in his relationship with streetwalker Elizabeth Shue. It’s actually a damn good movie, and probably the best acting job of Cage’s career before he became entrenched as a B-Lister. 
 
Well, I’m following suit and leaving for Las Vegas soon, but for very different reasons.
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​Ironically, I'm headed to Sin City as somewhat of a safe harbor, a place to lay low through the winter and into the spring until I can travel back "home" to the Philippines to be reunited with my girlfriend, Joy, and dog, Pupperoni. 
 
I've been back in my home state of Connecticut since March 22nd, when I arrived on an evacuation flight out of the Philippines. Little did I know that when I landed in New York City, I was touching down in the worst place in the world for Covid-19 at the time. Nor did I realize that the U.S. would be a complete shit show (technical term) when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. 
 
Still, I was committed to keeping my Nikes on U.S. soil all spring and summer for two reasons: 
 
1. My passport needed to be renewed. (I JUST got it!)
2. ​The Philippines won’t let me back in yet, as they still aren’t issuing tourist visas. 


So, all spring and summer I was super comfortable, super well-fed, and super bored out of my mind in Connecticut. Thank god I had more work than ever before – a true blessing in this economy (or, more accurately, the economy soon to come). My only recreation was hitting a heavy punching bag and watching Netflix series, an epic waste of time – but serving a critical purpose during any pandemic.

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However, as summer turned to fall, it’s rapidly getting cold, wet, and raw outside. Soon, dining or even exercising outside will be impossible. When that happens, and everyone is shuttered indoors from late October to April or so, I’m not so optimistic what the Covid situation will look like in Connecticut, or any cold-weather climate.
 
I would go b-a-n-a-n-a-s if I was stuck indoors in Connecticut all winter and spring, so it was time to get the hell out for a warmer locale.
 
Which leads us to…Las Vegas.
 
Ticket booked on Jet Blue, I fly out of New York’s JFK Airport on November 2nd, arriving in Las Vegas 5 hours later. I’ll be setting up shop in Las Vegas for the winter until I can gain entry back into the Philippines.
 
Why the hell was Las Vegas on the top of my Covid-19 Winter List, you may be wondering? 


First off, I need someplace warm, so I can exercise outdoors all winter, as well as sit outside to drink coffee and work (or drink beer and pretend to work). And there’s no way in hell I’m hanging out in a café or restaurant indoors.

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I have good friends in Florida who encouraged me to come down, but that state is like a "house on fire" when it comes to Covid, and also, the Miami area ain't the cheapest.

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My first thought was to roll out to Sacramento, CA – my adopted hometown for almost a decade, and I have mad love for the 916. But winters in Sactown are often rainy and relatively chilly, and it’s difficult or damn expensive to find short-term housing in the midtown area where I could walk or bike everywhere. 
 
Furthermore, I know A LOT of people in Sacramento. That would be a huge draw in normal times, but during 2020 when I aim to keep my bubble small, I’d be way too tempted to get together with scores of old friends, putting me at risk. 
 
Southern California was another option, but that’s even more expensive, you need a car to get around, and I’m not too familiar.
 
My sister has a rental property near the beach in South Carolina which would be chill…but it’s rented…and in South Carolina.
 
So, the next location on my list was Las Vegas. It actually came to me because a real estate client just hired me to write up a Moving to Las Vegas Guide, and it made me recall the few times I visited ‘Vegas.

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​The more it grew on me, the more it became apparent that Vegas checks a few boxes for me: 
 
  • It’s warm (enough) during the winter, with a dry desert climate in the 50s or 60s or higher. 
  • Las Vegas has an endless supply of restaurants that will deliver or where I can sit outside safely, a convenient airport, plenty of inexpensive accommodation, good healthcare facilities, and all of the conveniences you can hope for in a small city.
  • Once you get off the Strip, it’s actually a pretty chill place, and there are myriad nice parks, mountains adjacent to the Las Vegas Valley for hiking, mountain biking, etc. 
  • I actually have one good friend in Las Vegas, a dude named Tim who's a U.S. Army vet that I befriended in Cambodia years ago. Tim and his Khmer (Cambodian) wife and their child live in Henderson, Nevada. I visited them a few years ago, and not only did the trip confirm that he’s a really solid human being with his head on straight, but I got a taste of the real Las Vegas – away from the tourists and the Strip.​

​Tim already found me a decent suite at a resort that comes furnished, with a kitchen, and rents by the week, not far by the base of mountainous Red Rock Park.

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​So, my plan is to touch down on November 2nd (I don’t think too many people will be flying to Las Vegas early Monday morning the day before the election), lay low and self-quarantine for 10 to 12 days or whatever is suggested, and then start exploring on my mountain bike. ​

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I have absolutely no idea what to expect. My efforts Googling nearby restaurants, parks, and coffee shops have turned up a gun shop, a Church of Latter-Day Saints, and the Evil Knievel Museum within walking distance, so it must be a fine neighborhood.

​But I’m not really looking for something fancy or too exciting – just a better place to ride out the literal and public health storm than Connecticut. And I won't be tempted to go walk the Strip or frequent bars or casinos at all since I pretty much avoid that scene even in the best of times.

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I’ve actually been to Las Vegas three times in my life. The first time I visited Las Vegas was in 2004 or something like that, and I was so depressed after a break-up (I don’t even remember who it was now!) that I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol the whole time – I just ate ice cream and people watched.
 
I went back in 2007, but this time it was for the NBA's All-Star weekend. My good California/Filipino buddy, Gale Flores worked for the NBA every All-Star game, so he had a room that was paid for and even scored us two free lower level tickets to the game.
 
I still didn't do much except eat ice cream (do I have a problem?!) and people watch most of the weekend, except the All-Star festivities were a trip to witness. We had access to a few of the league's parties and events and got to meet a lot of players, NBA alumni, and other cool folks.
 
As an aside, watching the best of the best NBA players up close and personal, there were three players that stood out to me:

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​Dwight Howard is an absolute beast. I mean, an unreal physical specimen who was carved out or a block of granite with shoulders easily twice as wide as the other NBA centers.
 
Shawn Marion was a freak of nature when it came to jumping. He was like a pogo stick, springing off the floor twice in the time it took other All-Stars to jump once. No wonder why they called him the Matrix!
 
And Kobe Bryant stood out as the most competitive SOB on the planet, a real meat eater. He went 100% hard every second of every play. You could see it in his eyes – he was trying to dunk on his opponent each time he had the ball. Respect!
 
Oh, and that young buck Lebron James wasn’t too bad, either. In fact, seeing him live led me to say that Lebron James looks like Magic Johnson and Karl Malone had a baby.
 
Anyways, the NBA was seriously considering granting Las Vegas an expansion team and the All-Star weekend was sort of like a soft opening. 
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​But the weekend turned out to be a nightmare of disorganization, with endless fights and even shootings, thousands of visitors with no place to stay, drunks spitting on waitresses, pedestrians turned into hood ornaments, and general low-brow chaos. Quickly, the league reversed course and pulled the plug on that NBA experiment.

I’m guessing my stint in Sin City this time will last longer than the National Basketball Association’s, but that’s my whole deal with Las Vegas: give me a park to work out in, a resort with good Wi-Fi and a pool, some foothills I can hike and mountain bike in, and a good sushi spot that delivers and I’ll be content.
 
Maybe my time in Las Vegas will only last sixty days, or maybe it will be six months until I can gleefully book my flight back to the Philippines. But either way, I’m making a big bet that I find peace and relative happiness in the most hedonistic city in America. 
 
And I certainly hope it ends better for me than it did for Nicholas Cage.
 
-Norm  :-)
 
PS If you’re coming through Vegas in 2020, look me up. Or don’t look me up. I’m not sure.  



12 Comments

The Tao of Giving

9/21/2020

1 Comment

 
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“Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. It is a good and essential part of my life, a kind of destiny.”
-Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997
 

Can giving to others enrich our lives, keep us healthy, AND help the world? 

Things are not easy right now for many people, and it’s starting to dawn on us that it may be this way for a while.
 
And even if we’re not personally dealing with the loss of a loved one, financial difficulties, or food insecurity, the echoes of suffering in our world still reverberate within us since we are fundamentally good-hearted, empathetic human beings.
 
In fact, rates of anxiety and depression have reached unprecedented levels in the U.S. and across the world, up threefold since just the start of the year, before the pandemic. In a recent KFF tracking poll, 53% of U.S. respondents reported being increasingly anxious or depressed – and that was just in July. 
 
Likewise, the levels of substance abuse, suicide, and other health conditions due to the mental health crisis may eventually cause more long-term damage than the Coronavirus itself. 
 
So, whether it’s exercise, pursuing old hobbies or rekindling new passions, or endless Zoom chats with friends and family, we’re all struggling to stay mentally healthy and add some joy and light to our lives. 
 
(Note: online shopping may or may not be a positive coping mechanism, but it sure works great for me!)
 
But there’s another method of boosting our happiness and enriching our lives these days: giving.
 
Even before the pandemic, we were giving back, donating, and volunteering more than ever. In 2019, charitable giving reached $449.64 billion in the U.S., which was an increase of more than 5% since the previous year, 2018. 
 
And while corporations and foundations made up a significant portion of that total number, it was actually individual, hard-working Americans who gave the most. In fact, giving from individuals reached $309.66 billion in 2019 or 69% of total charitable gifts and donations.
 
And that just covers monetary donations or financial support. But remember that we’re seeing a whole host of ways people can give of themselves and help others: we’re offering our time, voices, focus, energy, and skills like never before. 
 
If there are any rays of hope during these times, it’s the small stories emerging the reconfirm our humanity:

  • Giving a call to talk or going grocery shopping for a lonely senior who lives alone.
  • Mentoring someone young, offering to teach them new skills online.
  • Mowing the yard and taking out the trash cans for our neighbors.
  • Using social media to raise awareness for different causes and charities in need.
  • Children with lemonade stands to collect money not for themselves, but to give to their people in their communities.
  • Supporting teachers, healthcare workers, and other front-liners who take risks every day to keep us all safe.
 
Of course, we know it feels good when we do something nice for someone else, even if it’s in a “warm and fuzzy” theoretical sense.
 
But it turns out there are some significant and proven benefits when we donate to charity, help someone in need, or just volunteer. 
 
According to numerous credible studies, the tangible benefits of giving include increases in:

  1. Feelings of connection and engagement
  2. Affirmation of our value to others
  3. Levels of life satisfaction
  4. Lasting improvements in overall happiness
  5. Reduced mortality rates
  6. Longevity rates
  7. Levels of learning and mental awareness
  8. Feelings of daily gratitude
  9. Prosocial behaviors
  10. Empathy
 
The physiology of charity

When we look at that list, I can't help but notice these benefits are some of the same offered by anti-depressant medications, exercise, or even being in a loving relationship.
 
That’s no coincidence, as scientists have mapped a neural connection in the part of the brain that registers reward processing, like when we eat our favorite food, win a sporting match, or even hit the lottery.
 
In a research study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, scientists tracked the brain images of participants, paying close attention to how their brain activity changed as a response to altruism.
They found that our brain activity is stimulated in two profound ways when we get in a philanthropic mood and give to others.
 
One is in the mesolimbic pathway, the area that dispenses "feel good" hormones and chemicals like dopamine. The second area of our brain that is stimulated by charitable giving is the subgenual region, which helps us form social attachments.
 
Why do people give?

Now that we understand the physiological basis for why we feel great when we help our fellow woman or man, let's look at the common motivations for doing so. And beware – it's not always just out of the goodness of our heart, but has a more primal or utilitarian basis.
 
One of the best studies into the topic comes from a Professor William Harbaugh at the University of Oregon, who isolated three theories as to why people give to charity or good causes:

1. People give to be altruistic, focusing on making a positive impact or solving a problem, like volunteering at a soup kitchen to help feed the hungry.  

2. The next theory may call into question our motivations, as Harbaugh claimed that some people enjoy the feeling of making “autonomous decisions” about who to help, when, and to what degree, experiencing pleasure from that control or even feelings of power.  

3. Thirdly, people also give to charities because it enhances their social value or boosts their social status. We see evidence of this when we donate to a cause and then share that fact on social media, feeling the reward two-fold.  

Who gives the most?

We mentioned that individuals gave almost $7 out of every $10 in 2019, but who among us gives the most? A study by the University of Notre Dame conducted a study and found these characteristics and demographics of the biggest givers:

  • Higher levels of education
  • More religious or faith-based
  • Homeowners
  • Married
  • Live in smaller towns – not big cities
  • The study also found that people are also far more likely to donate to charitable causes when they understand and can relate to the cause or organization they’re supporting.
 
Additionally, studies show that women tend to increase donations when they are single, the head of the household, or when they earn higher incomes.
 
When it comes to income distribution, you may be surprised to hear that lower-income brackets give a larger proportion of their assets than middle or upper-class households! 
 
The joy of giving never diminishes
​

No matter who you are, how you choose to help others, or what your motivation, there is some more good news about the psychology of altruism: it doesn’t diminish.
 
In fact, the pleasure center in our brain typically releases fewer feel-good hormones and chemicals as a good thing becomes routine. Such is the case when we stockpile nice material things, chase superficial goals, or do things simply because society tells us it should make us happy.
 
So, if we purchase that expensive sports car, win at the casino, or eat delicious food, the level of pleasure we receive diminishes as time goes on – and pretty rapidly, research shows. 
 
However, when donating to charity, volunteering, or giving to help others in some form, the opposite is true. The pleasurable effect and mental health benefits actually do not diminish, but maintain and even grow over time. 
 
I guess it’s true when they say the more love you give, the more you get back!  

***
Norm  :-)

PS This piece was originally written for my friend and mentor, Kelly Resendez and reposted with permission. You can follow Kelly at Big Voices Rise!
1 Comment

Inside Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book Library

8/23/2020

5 Comments

 
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​This month, I wanted to bring you inside one of my favorite places on earth - and it's right outside my home town. We'll take a tour of The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library – quite a mouthful, but once you see it, the name will become an afterthought. 
 
Located in New Haven, Connecticut – the home of venerable and prestigious Yale University - ‘Beinecke is essentially where the Yale library system houses all of the good stuff. It’s also one of the largest libraries or buildings in the entire world dedicated to rare books, manuscripts, and historical documents.
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In fact, the Beinecke Library houses more than one million books. But that’s just the beginning, as their collection also includes millions of pages of manuscripts, tens of thousands of papyri (scrolls), and countless photos, maps, drawings, paintings, other art and artifacts, and even digital and audio-visual content. 
 
It also hosts endless seminars, conferences, research projects, and visiting exhibits, including from modern and living authors.
 
The featured piece in Beinecke’s collection is The Gutenberg Bible, which was the first book ever created using movable type back in the 1450s (they actually have two in their collection). Only 48 of these bibles still exist, and they’re considered the most valuable books on earth. 
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But its books and contents aside, the attraction of the Beinecke Library is the building itself, which is as unique and breathtaking as anything you’ll see in the world.  


Built in 1963, the building rises six stories from a stone-lined sunken courtyard that's typical for Yale University. But the structure is anything but typical, a rectangular white box that sits on inverted triangular "pylons." Those pylons only stand a few feet from the ground to the base of the library's structure, but they extend down a full 50 feet ​beneath the earth, all the way down to bedrock.

​Within the rectangular metal structure sits a honeycomb-like frame, with 15 individual frames running lengthwise, five vertically, and ten deep. The layout of these “cells” follows the Golden Ratio, which is prevalent in mathematics as well as the layout of early books: 3:1:2.
 
Within each of those frames is a piece of white translucent marble. ​

There are no windows and only one front entrance, the structure completely uniform and without variation otherwise. The veined marble façade is actually made of special marble and granite from a quarry in Danby Vermont. Although each piece is massive, they’re milled to a thickness of only 1.25 inches, allowing sunlight to filter through so they’re translucent when you’re standing inside. ​

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​Depending on the time of day and how sunny it is, you'll see an endless array of colors and subtle patterns on each piece of marble, essentially glowing with natural light even though it's windowless.
 
Due to its aesthetics as much as its contents, the Beinecke Rare Book Library has been called a “jewel box” and “laboratory for the humanities.”
 
Inside the library, the visual is no less jaw-dropping, dominated by a massive central tower that runs the whole six stories from floor to ceiling, with glass walls encased in stark black metal frames.
 
This library-within-a-library safeguards 180,000 of the rarest and most precious volumes in the world.
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​Aside from two Gutenberg Bibles, the Beinecke Library collection also includes original works by:
Charles Dickens
Faust
Benjamin Franklin
Goethe
Thomas Hardy
Langston Hughes
Incunabula (collection of first printed books from 15th century) 
James Joyce
Rudyard Kipling
D. H. Lawrence
Sinclair Lewis
Thomas Mann
Eugene O'Neill, Jr.
the Papyrus Collection
Ezra Pound Papers
The Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Collection
Robert Louis Stevenson
Vanderbilt Collection
The Thornton Wilder papers
and far more that aren’t recognizable to the average person who’s not a super nerdy Indian Jones-type.
The glass-encased central tower is perfectly climate controlled with the temperature/humidity etc. to preserve these ancient manuscripts.
 
Of course, if you’re the caretaker of a rare library, preventing fires is a special concern, but you definitely can’t just turn on the sprinklers. So, in the event of a blaze, that glass-enclosed central tower can also be flooded with a mixture of Halon 1301 and Inergen fire suppressant gas, squelching any fuel the fire needs to burn. 
 
At first, the central stack was flooded with a carbon dioxide mixture if the fire alarm went off, but they changed that with the realization that any unfortunate librarians working in that area would be instantly asphyxiated. ​
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But fires aren’t the only threat. In 1977, an infestation of death watch beetles was discovered within the library, so they developed a unique method of controlling the pests before they are their way through invaluable tomes. In case of any insect outbreak, the library’s caretakers can actually freeze the books and other documents at −33 °F (−36 °C) for three days, a method that’s now been adopted for libraries with special collections around the world. 
 
Fires and pests accounted for; nefarious human intentions are sometimes harder to police. In 2005, a well-known antique dealer named Edward Forbes Smiley III was caught cutting maps from rare volumes with an X-acto knife! Since the library welcomes tens of thousands of scholars and special guests from academia every year, Smiley almost got away with cutting out these maps while in the reading room, which he intended to hide, smuggle out of the library, and sell on the black market. 

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Thankfully, Smiley’s plot was foiled when he dropped the X-acto knife on his way out, and he was arrested and thrown in prison for several years. Of course, security was ramped up after the incident, and you can’t bring any objects, bags, or cell phones into the library. 
(Do I need to mention that you can't simply check out the first bible ever printed and just pay late fees if you don't return it?!)
 
While you think we may have all bases covered, remember that the library was built in the 1960s, the height of the Cold War and atomic age. At the time, there were real concerns about what would happen to humanity's most treasured books in case of a Soviet nuclear attack. So, the myth is that in the event of a nuclear bomb hitting nearby New York City, for instance, the whole central stack could be mechanically lowered into the ground and then sealed up, serving as a bomb shelter for the books.
 
However, that myth has since been dispelled. In reality, there are two levels of basement floors under the library that extend out under the Hewitt Quadrangle, containing secured reading and research rooms, offices, and storage areas. Further down, there's also an underground stream, so it seems impossible that the central tower lowers into the ground in the event of a nuclear attack!
 
So, you might be wondering where the name ‘Beinecke’ comes from? The library was a gift from three members of the Beinecke family who were Yale alumni, endowing the university and building to serve as “a source of learning and an inspiration to all who enter.”
 
I’d say they definitely succeeded, and I try to visit the Beinecke Library for inspiration every time I’m back visiting my hometown of Hamden, Ct, which is only a couple of miles away from Yale.
 
If you’re ever in the area, give it a visit! 
(And say ‘what’s up’ if I happen to be around, too!)
 
-Norm :-)

Watch this short video about the Beinecke Library or check out their website here.
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Geeking out on Passports

7/14/2020

7 Comments

 
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​I’m trying to get back to the Philippines, but the universe really isn't cooperating.  
 
I’ve lived in the Southeast Asian nation of 7,500 islands for the last four years and was thoroughly settled in when the whole Coronavirus pandemic went from a back-page news story to overtaking our world.
(I took a domestic flight within the Philippines in February and when I took off, I was one of only three people on the plane wearing masks and got strange looks. But when I flew back five days later, about half of the passengers were wearing masks. That's how fast it happened.)

Unable to travel to my girlfriend because of strict lockdown measures that went into place literally overnight, I was bunkered down in an old hotel as society started breaking down around me.  
My daily To-Do list included items like "Get water" and searching for a working ATM, since the banks, stores, and hotels were closing in large numbers every day.  I would take out as much cash as possible early every morning, full well expecting to get jumped or robbed, before running straight home.
 
It was time to get the hell out!
​
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With an incredible amount of luck and the help of the lone travel agent still working, I grabbed the last seat on the last evacuation flight on March 21 before the airline shuttered for good.
 
I traveled from the Philippines to Dubai and then on to New York, landing on March 22, 2020. (Little did I know I’d land in the world’s Covid epicenter at the time, but that’s another sh*t show.)
 
Since then, I’ve been safe and healthy here with family in Connecticut, a little stir crazy but no worse for wear. I have no idea when they'll let tourists back into the Philippines, but I want to be ready.

​You see, my US passport is still perfectly valid…but just until April of 2021. I don't know if you're aware, but most countries have an entry requirement that your passport must be good for at least six months after you land, or they won't let you in. So, I thought this was either the best time or worst time in history to renew my passport!

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The normal passport renewal offices are either closed or anticipating six-month turnaround times as a best-case scenario. (Hell no!)
 
My only other option is an expedited passport renewal service, which means paying big money to a private agency who reserves your line in queue and then processes your application for you.
 
I called about ten of them around the country and got a wide range of information and options, some of which were so scary how responsible and inaccurate they were. 
 
I ended up choosing a passport expediter agency in New York City because:
 
1) they actually had someone answering the phone, 

2) Haidy (we're on a first-name basis) was helpful and answered all of my 100 questions patiently, and 

3) New York is a short drive away if I have to go hunt them down if they disappear with my passport.
​

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​The problem is that the US government still isn't processing expedited passports. In fact, they're just at Phase 2, and they need to be at Phase 3 for passport offices and expedited services to start again. Haidy is optimistic that will happen soon (and maybe even this week!), but the rest of the country seems to be playing a game of ten steps backward after rushing to take one step forward, so who knows?
 
Either way, since they have my passport application, new photos, plenty of my money, and my actual passport, I’ll at least be in line once they do open up, which is sure to bring a rush of thousands of eager travelers.
 
So, I estimate my brand-new passport will show up at my front door anywhere from mid-September to right before Christmas time, 2025. 
 
Since I have plenty of time to plot my grand escape from the US, I thought I’d do a little geeking-out on the whole concept of passports.
 
Here’s what I found: 


  • Currently, about 147 million Americans have valid US passports, which is a major portion (about 45 percent) of our total 325 million population. For some reason, I have it in my mind that Americans don’t travel internationally a whole lot, but that’s an impressive number of passports.

  • If you live in the United States and don't own a passport, don't despair – there are still plenty of places you can travel. In fact, you can Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, all thanks to your US citizenship.

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  • There are more than 9,000 passport offices in the US, including some US post offices that provide passport services.
 
(But do you want to hear a pro traveler tip? Head over to your local AAA for complete passport services – you’ll find almost no line and great service!)

  • If you need to renew your passport quickly, you may try one of the rush or expedited passport agencies who can do it as quickly as overnight (for a massive fee). Just Google expedited passport services in your area, and you'll find a ton of listings for different agencies. What's their speedy secret?
 
These agencies basically deal in passport appointments with the US passport services. They work with a wide network of agencies and sub-agencies who reserve every walk-in appointment they can get well ahead of time, and then resell those appointments to your agency. So, when you fill out their passport renewal paperwork for an expediter (like I am now), the agreement will include a whole stack of authorizations with sub-agencies.

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  • Our antiquated system of physical, paper passports also leaves the door open for fraud, theft, and counterfeiting. In fact, INTERPOL reports that more than 40 million US passports have been stolen (not lost) since 2002.   

     From identity thieves to immigration scammers to terrorists, a whole lot of illicit parties want to get their hands on a US passport. Of course, no one knows how many fake or altered US passports are out there, but the US government has had a whole passport crimes division, Diplomatic Security (DS), since 1916. They maintain an international database of lost or stolen passports or those shady persons who have been flagged.

  • Living or traveling abroad a lot, I do know that you can get a counterfeit US passport for about $5,000 USD or so in places like Thailand or Cambodia. (I know a guy who knows a guy.)
 
Of course, we expect that North Korea is the largest producer of counterfeit US passports since that’s also true of our US currency.

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  • Early forms of passports were just letters from rulers and officials promising safe passage, but they stood out because written letters were few and far between.
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  • The concept for the modern passport can probably be traced back to 1414 when England's King Henry V issued documents that allowed travelers to prove their identity and nationality as they embarked upon foreign shores.

  • The first US passports were printed in 1783 under the watchful eye of Benjamin Franklin.
 
  • But the birth of our modern system of passports started in World War One, when travelers crossing borders needed an international crossing card and documentation, including a photograph. This was a measure put in place after a German spy was caught trying to pass into Britain with a fake US passport.

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  • Each country’s passport looks different, but all of them have a cover in one of only four colors: 
 
Red is the most popular color for passports around the world, typically used by all communist/former Soviet countries as well as most European Union countries and Andean Mountain nations (Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, etc.). 
 
Blue is the second most popular passport color, including the US but also South American trade union countries and 15 Caribbean nations. By the way, did you know that US passports only went blue in 1976?!)
 
Most Muslim countries feature green passports, including a good number of African nations, and the remainder of Africa and some Pacific countries like New Zealand have the rare black passport.

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  • Passport photos are not your time to take a fun selfie that displays your unique personality. In fact, there’s a long list of restrictions while taking passport photos: 
  • You cannot wear any hat, cap, or head covering;
  • You can’t wear sunglasses;
  • You can’t have hair cover any part of her face;
  • You can’t wear any uniform or official or work outfit (except if you work for a commercial airline);
  • And even smiling was banished from passport photos in 2004 – you have to keep a neutral expression. 
 
When I went for a new passport last month, they actually made me re-take my photo three times because I had a hard time NOT smiling!

  • But governments aren’t just being the fun police with these restrictions – they’re trying to make sure facial recognition software can works unobstructed.
 
For that reason, if you have any significant facial cosmetic surgery, get a new facial tattoo (sorry Mike Tyson and the dude from the Hangover!), or even get a new facial piercing, you’ll need to get a new passport photo!

  • In the early days of passports, there were issued for an entire family, and your passport photo could even be a family photo.
 
  • A US passport comes with 28 pages, which includes 17 pages that are blank and ready for visa, entry, or exit stamps when you visit other countries. 
 
  • But if you run out of blank pages, you can send in your passport and have them add 24 extra interior pages. You can do that up to three times, so there are some US passports with a whopping 124 pages!  

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You can actually be denied entry into a country or not allowed to board a flight if your passport doesn’t have enough blank pages left.

  • Most countries now also require that your passport will be good for three to six months after your entry. So, even if your US passport does not expire for 5 months and 29 days, you may still be denied entry! 
 
A good number of people get caught with this little-known and unwritten rule, and they’re not allowed to board or forced to get on a plane and head home from their destination’s airport – at their own expense!

  • Immigrations officials in any country can also deny entry if a passport is damaged. But it’s a completely subjective standard, and you can have a disgruntled or cranky immigration officer tell you that you can’t enter just because your passport is faded, ripped, worn, or damaged by water at one time. 
 
While this isn’t common (people usually get their passports renewed if they’re in bad shape), I did have this happen to a friend – he arrived in Costa Rica, but the contentious immigration officer wouldn’t let him in based on the condition of his US passport! He had to get on a flight right back to the US and wasted a ton of time and money.

  • Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is the only person in the world who doesn’t need a passport to travel internationally. Even the Pope and the rest of the British royal family all need passports for travel, but not the Queen! 
 
  • Presidents from around the world do need passports to travel, but they receive special diplomatic passports that allow them to travel freely to most countries without visas. In the US and other nations, these presidential passports are good for life and extend to their immediate families. ​​

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  • Passports may seem boring and utilitarian, but there are some cool passports around the world. For instance, when you shine a UV light on a Norwegian passport, an embedded holographic photo displays the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis!
 
Under a UV light, Canadian passports also show photos of the country’s landmarks.
 
And when you scroll forward through passports from Finland and Slovenia quickly, the images at the bottom display like a flicker book, creating a moving picture.

  • Even though they are not countries or even international borders, you can get your passport stamped at Machu Picchu (Peru) or Easter Island (territory of Chile).
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  • Most countries try to add features that make them difficult to counterfeit, but a passport from Nicaragua is actually the hardest in the world to forge. In fact, passports from this poor Latin American nation include 89 separate security features like watermarks and holograms. (Which is interesting because I lived in Nicaragua and I don’t really know why they have such high security.)

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  • Do you remember the 2004 Steven Spielberg movie, The Terminal? In that flick, main character Tom Hanks is forced to live in an airport terminal for a while due to visa problems and the rouge status of his home nation.
 
Well, that plot is based on a real situation in which an Iranian man couldn’t present his passport to immigration officials in France’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. The Iranian refugee, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, had his travel documents stolen in 1988, so he was stuck inside the airport and not allowed to leave or pass immigration.
 
He ended up living in the airport terminal for 17 years until he had to be taken to a hospital in 2006. 17 Years – that's insane!

  • Each year, a metric called the Henley Passport Index (HPI) ranks all 199 passports in the world based on how many countries you can enter without a visa. 

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  • Singapore is currently ranked as the most powerful passport in the world at #199, and the United States is not far behind at #171. But the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may soon take the top spot because they’re under negotiations to join the Schengen Area countries.
 
  • And if you’re wondering, Afghanistan is the least powerful passport in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index (HPI), as it only allows visa-free entry into 25 countries.
 
Wish me luck getting my passport back one day soon – and getting home to the Philippines!

-Norm   :-)

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Juneteenth is a vital part of American history that we all should commemorate

6/16/2020

0 Comments

 
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This Friday is June 19th, an important date in American history, commonly known as Juneteenth. This cause for celebration marks the de facto independence day for African American slaves in the United States more than 150 years ago.
 
It was June 19, 1865, when US General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and shared the news that enslaved African Americans were now free.
 
That date still stands as a grand reason for celebration every year, often called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. Every June 19th in communities across the U.S. there are parades, pageants, festivals, concerts, plenty of traditional food, and lots of cultural and historical education, all in the name of freedom.
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But wait, wasn't slavery abolished in 1863 in the United States, two and a half years before General Granger rode into Galveston? That's correct, as Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, officially freed the slaves.  
 
However, for many enslaved populations around the United States, nothing changed with Lincoln's historical document in Washington. That included 250,000 African American slaves in Texas who had no idea they'd been freed at all. Slave owners and those who were profiting certainly weren't in a rush to inform them or encourage their independence.
 
Of course, news traveled slowly in those days, and messages only disseminated by mail carrier. In fact, it took more than two months for Confederate soldiers in Texas to hear that General Lee had surrendered on April 9, 1865!

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But that doesn’t explain the two-and-a-half-year delay between the Emancipation Proclamation and the actual granting of those freedoms to enslaved populations. There were purposeful delays, blatant defiance of the new law, and even an account that the first messenger was murdered to prevent the news from reaching Texas. 
 
Most likely, Texas' slave owners delayed the news reaching their plantations so they could eke out another cotton harvest or two. 
 
Either way, the Emancipation Proclamation just wasn’t practically enforceable in “rebel” states right after the Civil War, which ended in 1865.
 
That is, until the Union government sent a top General to Texas to make sure the new law was heeded. That's exactly what happened when General Granger rode there and publicly read General Order No. 3, which stated:
 
"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

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But it took months for the news to circulate across the state and from plantation to plantation, and longer for slave owners to comply.
 
Being granted freedom didn’t mean that people were free, of course, and with no money or resources, many stayed on to become indentured servants with meager pay. But most wanted to be anywhere except Texas, so they left for northern regions en masse or tried to reunite with family, called “the scatter.”
 
In many cases, General Granger’s troops had to enforce the new order with military action. There are reports of outlaw plantations in Texas not actually freeing their slaves until 1868, almost three years later. Even with the law on their side in theory, many former slaves were beaten, lynched, and murdered as they tried to leave their plantations or the state.
 

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After a few years had gone by, African Americans in the south still had few rights and equal protections under the law. For that reason, it was extremely difficult for these citizens to openly celebrate the seminal June 19thdate of their freedom every year. 
 
In the 1870s, a group of former slaves collected $800 and purchased 10 acres of land in Houston, establishing “Emancipation Park” where they could celebrate the new Juneteenth holiday safely. That park remained the only public park and swimming pool open to African Americans in Houston until the 1950s.
 
As the decades went by and slavery tragically turned into the Jim Crow era of segregation, Juneteenth celebrations usually were kept away from the public eye for fear of safety and racial mobs. 

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But that changed in the 1960s, when civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. planned his Poor People’s March for June 19th, purposely coinciding with Juneteenth, and an annual holiday was born.
 
But Juneteenth was still (and is still) largely ignored by non-black communities. Texas was actually the first state to declare Juneteenth a holiday in 1980, but few states followed. California only declared Juneteenth a state holiday in 2002.
 
 In fact, Juneteenth is still not a federal holiday in the United States, which I find shocking.
 
When Barack Obama was a Senator, he co-sponsored a bill that sought to make Juneteenth a national holiday, but it didn’t pass, and it still didn’t go through when he was President.
 
Still, there are plenty of grassroots supporters, such as Opal Lee, a 93-year-old woman who started walking from state to state to raise awareness for Juneteenth when she was a relatively young 90.
 
It just goes to show that the call for justice and the strength of the human spirit will always stand tall!

-Norm  :-)

This blog was originally written for Chris Saizan, my good friend and a Realtor in Sacramento, CA who focuses on unity and serving the community. To connect with Chris and get involved, follow him on Instagram @chrissaizan.

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Loving vs. USA ♥️ Your June 2020 Postcard from Norm

6/10/2020

1 Comment

 
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When love was a crime in the US
 
Mildred and Richard Loving were woken up abruptly in the early morning hours of July 11, 1958. 
 
Someone was in their bedroom, standing menacingly over the bed. The couple, sharing their marital bed in their own home in Central Point, Virginia, reached for their clothing, at first thinking the interloper was a burglar.
 
“Get up!” the voice barked, training a powerful flashlight in their eyes. “Y'all both under arrest.”
 
“What did we do?” Richard protested, shielding his wife.
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The officer explained the crime they were being charged with and ordered them to dress and get out of bed. But Richard and Mildred explained that it all must be a big mistake. She pointed to their marriage certificate, hanging in a frame on the wall.
 
“That ain’t valid in Virginia!” the officer spat, marching them out of their house in handcuffs and placing them in a waiting squad car.
 
The young couple was transported down to the local station, where they were booked and charged with Sections 20-58 and 20–59 of the Virginia Code and thrown in the same cells that were used to house hardened criminals. 
 
They soon found out that the police raided their home in those early morning hours based on an anonymous tip. Hurling insults and racial epitaphs at them, they learned that the police hoped to catch them in the act of having sex, since that would have brought additional criminal charges.

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So, what was the Lovings’ crime? 
 
They were married and happened to be an interracial couple. 
 
Since Richard was white and Mildred was “colored” as it was called in those days – a mix of black and Native American - that was enough for the police to lock them up in Virginia.
 
In fact, Section 20-58 of the Virginia Code made it a crime for couples of different races to be married (referred to as ‘miscegenation’) out of state and then return to Virginia. 
 
And Section 20–59 classified miscegenation as a felony offense, which came of a prison sentence of one to five years.

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Richard + Mildred; young and in love
 
Mildred Delores Loving was born July 22, 1939 there in Virginia. Ironically, there may be some confusion as to her racial origins. 
 
During her drawn-out legal nightmare, she identified as African American (or black or “colored” in those days).

​But the night she was arrested, she told the police that she was “Indian” and later on, claimed to be Indian-Rappahannock. However, she may have denied being partially black to try to deflect the charges, since the intent of these laws left over from the Jim Crow era was to separate African Americans and whites.
 
We do know that she was a soft-spoken, gentle, and a pretty woman, growing up in the same small Virginia community of Caroline County where she eventually met her husband, Richard Loving.
 
Richard, born October 29, 1933, came from a family that owned seven slaves according to the 1830 census, and his grandfather, T. P. Farmer, fought for the Confederates in the Civil War.
 
But in their small community, there was more racial harmony and mixing than we might guess. 

“There’s just a few people that live in this community,” Richard described, who looked like the typical young southern white in those days with a blond crew cut. “A few white and a few colored. And as I grew up, and as they grew up, we all helped one another. It was all, as I say, mixed together to start with and just kept goin’ that way.” 
 
In fact, Richard's father was a loyal 25-year employee of one of the wealthiest black men in the U.S. at the time, and a lot of Richard’s best friends were black or racially mixed, including Mildred’s older brothers.
 
Either way, Richard and Mildred met in high school and quickly fell in love, becoming inseparable. When Mildred became pregnant at the age of 18, Richard even moved into her family home.
 
Knowing full well that it was illegal for them to marry in Caroline County due to Virginia's Racial Integrity Act, the young couple traveled to Washington, D.C. where they could legally marry. 
 
They came back to Virginia several times to visit family in Central Point, and it was during one of those visits in 1958 when the police barged into their bedroom in the wee hours and arrested them.

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Good ‘ole fashioned southern racism
 
The racial climate in Virginia was all-too-typical in those days. In fact, out of all 50 states, only nine did nothave a law against interracial marriage at some point. And by the 1950s, the majority of U.S. states (and every single state in the south) had a law against miscegenation. 
 
There had been laws against racial mixing or marriage all the way back to the colonial era, which were renewed during Jim Crow. Most of the laws focused on keeping black men away from white women. The rape of black women by white slave owners or men was commonplace, leading to the "one drop of blood" rule (if someone had even one drop of African American blood, they were considered black in the eyes of the law).
 
But those laws were far less barbaric than trial-by-mob, as black men were frequently attacked or lynched for even talking to a white woman.
 
The law and courts held no refuge nor justice. The case of Pace v. Alabama in 1883 went all the way to the Supreme Court, where an Alabama law against anti-miscegenation was deemed fully constitutional. 
 
And in 1888, the Supreme Court ruled that states had the legal authority to prohibit or regulate marriage based on race.
 
In Virginia, that was codified in 1924 with the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity, with violators facing a prison sentence of one to five years in the state penitentiary.
 
By the time the Lovings were pulled out of their bed and arrested, 16 states still had anti-miscegenation laws on their books – most of them in the south.

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From jail to a Kennedy’s help
 
Sitting in jail and with no resources or recourse to fight the charges, the Lovings both pleaded guilty on January 6, 1959. Their crime was officially documented as "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.”
 
Per the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity, they were sentenced to one year in state prison, but the sentence was suspended when they agreed to leave the state of Virginia and not return.
 
Happy to evade a prison term but sad to leave the community and people they grew up with, the Lovings fled to the District of Columbia, settling into a D.C. ghetto. They were poor but lived in peace, and raised their three children, Sidney, Donald, and Peggy, there.
 
But they had increasing financial difficulties and missed their home and families. When one of their sons was struck by a car in the streets of D.C. (he lived and recovered), a frustrated Mildred wrote a letter to the young Attorney General of the United States, who she thought may be sympathetic. In the letter, she documented the Lovings' plight.
 
She never expected to receive a reply, but she did hear back from that Attorney General - Robert F. Kennedy. Of course, Robert’s brother had been the progressive President John F. Kennedy, Jr, who had been assassinated a few years earlier in 1963.
 
Robert Kennedy connected Mildred with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who agreed to take on her case.



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All the way to the steps of the Supreme Court
 
The ACLU assigned two volunteer attorneys, Bernard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop, to the Lovings' case. They filed a motion to vacate the criminal judgments in Virginia’s Caroline County Circuit Court, stating that the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
 
After nearly a year of waiting with no progress, the pair of ACLU attorneys filed a class-action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
 
After hearing the case, Judge Leon M. Bazile ruled against the Lovings, including this statement:
 
“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”
 
The ACLU appealed Judge Bazile’s decision in the Virginia Supreme Court on the grounds that it violated the constitution. However, in 1965, Justice Harry L. Carrico wrote an opinion for the court that upheld the constitutional legality of anti-miscegenation laws.
 
Finally, the Lovings and the ACLU appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1. While Mildred and Richard were not in attendance as their lawyers made oral arguments on their behalf, Bernard S. Cohen passed on a message from Richard Loving: "Tell the Court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can't live with her in Virginia."
 
On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court came back with their ruling. With a unanimous 9-0 vote, the highest court in the land overturned the Virginia criminal conviction and deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. 
 
The Supreme Court opinion, written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, struck down any laws regulating interracial marriage since they violated Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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Life after their landmark case
 
At least on a federal level, it was no longer illegal for racially-mixed men and women to marry, thanks to the Lovings and their attorneys. 
 
The landmark case was one of the most significant civil rights wins to date in the United States, at a time when civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated the very next year.
 
I wish I could tell you that the Supreme Court ruling changed things, rooting out racism in U.S. society, but we know that's not the case. Despite the Supreme Court ruling, many states resisted, begrudgingly changing their laws against interracial marriage – if at all.
 
In fact, Alabama was the last state to accept the Loving vs. Virginia ruling, not removing its anti-miscegenation laws until 2000. 
 
That’s not a typo; it was still technically illegal for people of different races to marry in Alabama only 20 short years ago.

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The Loving legacy
 
In the movies, the courageous defendants stand proudly in the Supreme Court alongside their lawyers. But in real life, it rarely works that way.
 
Instead, the Lovings lived on a quiet farm in Virginia during much of the prolonged legal battle, trying to stay out of sight (to avoid the media as well as a safety precaution). But after the Supreme Court decision, they moved the family back to Central Point, where Richard built a small house and they raised their children in relative peace.
 
In 1975, Richard was killed when he was hit by a drunk driver while driving in Caroline County, Virginia. He was only 41.
 
Mildred was in the car with him and lost her right eye in the accident but lived. She passed in 2008 of pneumonia in her home in Central Point at the age of 68.
 
We’re not sure if Richard and Mildred fully realized the societal and cultural shift they’d started. Over the decades, their story has been the subject of several songs and three movies, including Loving, which debuted at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
 
Their case also served as a precedent for other civil rights cases since, including Obergefell v. Hodges, a landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision that lifted restrictions on same-sex marriage.
 
In 2014, Mildred was honored posthumously as one of "Virginia’s Women in History,” and in 2017, a historical marker was dedicated to her in front of the building that formerly housed the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.


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Making the term ‘interracial” obsolete
 
Back in the 1960s, 0.4% of all U.S. marriages were between interracial couples. By 1980, that number had increased to 3.2% of all marriages, and then to 8.4% in 2010. 
 
Today, about 19% of all newlywed marriages are between interracial couples, or almost 1 in every 5.
 
By 2050, there will be so many multi-racial people that the vast majority of marriages could be considered interracial, although we probably won't even bother keeping track of that statistic anymore.
 
To recognize the sacrifice and plight of Richard, Mildred, and many others like them, June 12th – the day of their Supreme Court decision - has been designated Loving Day in the United States.
 
-Norm  :-)

P.S. Thank you for sharing so we can try to spread some positivity and understanding.
 
***
This blog is dedicated to my old friend, Kyle McGee, who taught me so much.

1 Comment

10 Things to feel ridiculously, gleefully, unabashedly hopeful about

4/17/2020

10 Comments

 
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Whoa. 
 
That’s the feeling we get every time we turn on the news or check social media these days, as things seem to keep getting worse.
 
It’s hard NOT to feel down, depressed, and despondent during these unprecedented times, with millions of people sick, thousands dying, and the whole economy shut down. 
 
There seems to be no quick solution or even solid answers, and it sure feels like the average person has been left to his or her own devices.
 
It’s all too much.
 
Then again, in those rare occasions that I'm able to throw the covers off and actually get out of bed, put down my third bowl of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch (note: I highly recommend it), or stop walking in circles around the house like a zombie, I realize that maybe things aren’t completely hopeless.
 
In fact, the sun is shining. I’m blessed to still have a roof over my head and food on the table, and the ability to control my own destiny, no matter how difficult that task may seem.
 
As usual, things may not be quite as bad as they seem. 
 
I can hit you with rosy platitudes like “It’s always darkest before the dawn,” or even start singing “Don’t worry; be happy,” but I’m not going to minimize what we’re up against (and you don’t want to hear my singing!).
 
Furthermore, intangibles and Trumpian double-speak do us no good at this point. We need some real and substantial cornerstones that make us feel optimistic about coming days.
 
So, here are 10 things to feel ridiculously, gleefully, unabashedly hopeful about:

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1.  Animal shelters are emptying That's great news if you're a pet lover, as people are adopting and rescuing dogs, cats, and other lovable critters at a record rate. In fact, some dog shelters have posted videos lately, showing that they're completely empty! It turns out, we all want a lovable four-legged friend at home to keep us company.

​(My dog, Pupperoni, is patiently waiting for me to return to the Philippines or I'd adopt five more here in Connecticut!)


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2.  The words ‘neighbor’ and ‘community’ mean something again
During good times, we were all a little guilty of fortifying ourselves in our McMansions and going about our own business.

​But now, people are more interested in helping, supporting, and just getting to know those around them again. We're sitting on our front porches and saying hi, making meals for seniors, and giving away things we used to try to sell. Young people, especially, are stepping up and showing character.


Isn’t it ironic that we’re more isolated than ever but feel a new sense of communal and civic pride?

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3.  Mom-n-Pop businesses are getting love
I don’t know about you, but I’m loving the rejuvenated relationship we have with local restaurants, Mom-n-Pop stores, and neighborhood businesses that are still operating. It seems like we appreciate them more than ever, and we’re actively supporting them with our dollars, (our stomachs), and by spreading the word. 
 
Think about when this is over; will you head to Chilis or Bed, Bath, and Beyond?! No! You’ll run to a local or Mom-n-Pop business to eat, drink, and shop to your heart’s content!

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4.  In some ways, we're becoming more human
As we traverse this storm of suffering with no relief in sight, I've noticed that people are becoming more human again. I liken it to the days after 9/11, when everyone waved and said hello, held the door open for each other, and generally remembered that we share the planet with others.

In fact, charity donations and volunteerism have skyrocketed already during this crisis, a heartwarming trend I expect to continue. 

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5.  We have time again​
Are we finally stopping to smell the roses? Looks like it, as we finally have a moment to pause, breathe, and not be rushed every minute of every day.

​Sure, we're bored, but our family dinners have become longer, we're talking to friends and family more than ever (even if it's virtually), and we're dusting off long-forgotten hobbies and passions. We're taking bike rides, doing yoga, learning (online) and reading, and taking walks with our kids every sunset. There may not be too many silver linings to these challenging times, but the fact that we can hit pause on the world for a moment is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

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6.  People are getting their priorities straight
​
Although what’s to come will be extremely painful, we also are recalibrating our priorities, which will have a positive effect for the rest of our lives. All of a sudden, we are filled with appreciation just to have a hot meal, the chance to talk to an old friend, or when we get to hug our family safely every night. And just being healthy for another day feels like an enormous blessing.
 
Maybe we needed a little wake-up call? 

Well, this is it, and many of us are already listening, focusing on simplifying our lives and living with newfound gratitude.

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7.    Nature is our saving grace!
​
My anxiety (ok, abject panic!) often rises to a boiling point when I stay inside to work, watch the news, or scroll through social media. Then, I step outside, and everything feels better. 

Even a few minutes out in my backyard or at the local park reminds me that some of the best things in life are the fresh air (allergy season notwithstanding), blue skies, blooming flowers, and wild animals. 
 
Many of us are lucky enough to experience nature in one way or another, and the planet even seems to be healing itself a little with less pollution and more space for wildlife to roam again.

A lot of people around the world (more US people will start doing this if they're smart) are even starting to plant home gardens and grow their own food. Clean energy may even become more sustainable through all this. Hell, maybe there is just a spark of hope for the planet? 

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8.  We have a new appreciation for the little people (who, it turns out, were never little at all!)
We'll look back at these dark days and remember the heroes, new leaders, and regular people who exhibited remarkable courage and sacrifice. We all have a new appreciation for teachers, police officers, first responders, doctors and nurses, bus drivers, grocery store workers, social workers, and all sorts of other extraordinary humans that sometimes go unappreciated. 
 
I'm sure you've seen the videos of New Yorkers applauding and cheering their local healthcare workers during the nightly 7 pm shift change. I propose that we keep that tradition alive after this is all over – and expand it to show love and respect for a whole lot more "little people" who are huge in our lives.

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9.  Change is coming
Just a few weeks ago, the world we live in now would be inconceivable.

(Would you ever imagine that you're required to wear a mask when walking into a bank?!)

Absolutely everything has changed, and we're still trying to wrap our collective psyche around that. 

There will be pain and suffering to come; there's no avoiding it. But this grandest of transformations will also bring a chance to reinvent just about every aspect of our society - and even the human experience.  We are blessed and cursed with the responsibility of rebuilding our world, and no one knows exactly what that look like except that it will be new.

Change is inevitable as it is imminent. It's now the age of rebirth for activists, artists, healers, designers, dreamers, teachers, empaths, environmentalists, inventors, underdogs, outcasts,  leaders, and, especially the youth, as we've turned this world into a fuster cluck and it's time to let the next 

The meek may just inherit the earth, after all...and I'm hopeful that they'll take far better care of it than we ever did.

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10.  People are ready to start living again 
Psychologists outline a process that we go through whenever we suffer a grave loss or tragedy, with stages from shock to denial, anger, bargaining, depression, reconciliation, and then, acceptance. 
 
I don't know about you, but I think they're missing a couple of stages like, "Wearing the same sweatpants for 72 hours" and "Drinking wine at 10 am while holding a full conversation with the mailbox."
 
But there will be an eighth stage at the end of all this: Ready.
 
People will be ready:
Ready to work.
Ready to rebuild.
Ready to experience.
Ready to learn.

Ready to heal.
Ready to give.
Ready to connect.
Ready to love without censor or fear.
 
Very soon, we’ll be ready to LIVE again!
 
That alone is something to feel incredibly hopeful about, and I think it’s coming sooner than we may realize.
 
Trust me when I tell you; You’ll want to be around for the dancing in the streets after these dark days are over!

-Norm  :-)

PS If you found this helpful or uplifting at all, can you please do me a favor and share it on social media? Thanks a billion!

10 Comments

Taal Volcano Erupts

1/15/2020

3 Comments

 
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A while back, I told you about a remarkable place - the Taal Volcano here in the Philippines. Located only an hour or two from the main city of Manila, the Taal Volcano is crazy cool as it’s located on an island (Luzon), in a volcanic lake (Taal Lake) on a smaller island (Taal Island), with it’s own water-filled volcanic crater with yet another tiny island in the center of its inhospitable waters! Crazy! 

After hiking up Taal Volcano with my girlfriend, Joy, last summer, I documented the history of Taal, including its notable eruptions as recently as the 1980s. 

Well, I had no idea that Taal would blow its lid again, but that’s exactly what happened about a week ago. It was a big one.

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Sadly, tens or even hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated from in and around Taal, and there have been human casualties as well as many animals left behind on the island.The volcanic cloud from the series of eruptions reached as far as Manila, where cars were blanketed with soot and ash. 

So, in this postcard, I not only cover our experience hiking up to the peak of Taal Volcano (which, admittedly, seems sort of petty considering the eruption), but, most importantly, our connection with our guide for the trip, Fatima.

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***
​We started out with a 20-minute, impossibly twisty ride down the cliffside, following switchbacks through the jungle on a good government road. Sweating and nauseas by the time we got to the bottom, the air temperature was easily 20 degrees warmer than at the top of the cliff above, causing us to move over into the shade - and it was only 8:30 in the morning. We bought emergency sunglasses from one of the vendors and went to the “official tourist office” – a single desk with a handwritten sign inside someone’s living room.
 
The only two passengers on our narrow outrigger canoe, we sped across the morning-glass lake until we soon pulled up on the shore, a stack of tires our only dock.
 
Various tour guides and touts milled about but they weren’t overly aggressive since there’s a strict number system to make sure everyone gets work in the proper order – and everyone gets fed. Our guide was #24, a young woman who couldn’t have been more than 20 years old, dressed conservatively in long pants and a shirt, donning a blue scarf to protect her from the sun. 
 
Even though most of the tourists opt to ride a horse up to the top to avoid the hot, arduous climb, we told her that we wanted to make the hike, earning the view. Sweating in the jungle heat and unsferable humidity, we followed a path that led us on a zippering journey up towards the volcano. 

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“My name is Fatima,” she confided before covering her shy grin with her hand, turning to Joy, to talk in their native Tagolog. “Sorry, my English isn’t good.”
 
But it was excellent, I assured her, and we all chatted and joked as we made the climb, silence only befalling us when we crossed areas with cover from the tree canopy, the sun sapping any conversation.
 
On the way up, we passed a party of hikers that were going at a more deliberate pace, including an older woman.
 
“I’m 80 years old!” she proclaimed proudly when we said hello, and we encouraged her that she was doing great.
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Our only relief came at a lookout near the top, where a group of locals lounged on rough plank board benches under the shade of a palopa roof. They halfheartedly offered us bracelets and statuetes made with lava stone, but didn’t seem to mind when we politely declined, since I smiled at them and showed respect by saying, “Salamat po.”
 
I did buy coconuts for all of us, including Fatima and one for the 80-year-old woman, who was visibly waning in the sun as she tried to make the last push. After they split open the top of our cocnuts with a machete, revealing cold fresh water we could sip out of a straw, I carried one down the path to the older woman, who was being supported by her son and daughters now.

​She thanked me, drank, and kept on.
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Our only bad vibe came when two tourists – I’m guessing they were from Singapore or something – were protesting when asked to pay a 50 Peso fee to go further. I gently reminded the guy that he was being a complete dick because it’s only one dollar and these people are literally living in dirt just trying to get by. 
 
He just kept hemming and hawing while his friend vaped. What a d-bag.


I snapped a few photos, guzzled my coconut water, and signaled to Fatima that we should keep going before we got too comfortable. The crucible of the volcano was only 1,000 meters away now, but the rest of the way was even more steep with no shade cover at all.
 
That last leg was impossibly hot, but it was worth it when we reached the ridge of wild grass and red rocks that descended down into the crater lake on the other side. It was a steep drop, and the path along the rim of the volcano was only a foot wide at best, with no ropes, guard rails, or nets below. ​
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I wondered out loud how many tourists had slipped and fallen to their untimely demise, and if that’s why they asked us to pay up front? 

The 360-degree view was spectacular - something I won’t even try to describe. My only disappointment was they weren’t still golfing from the volcano’s edge. The first time I’d been up here to the Taal, only a year and a half ago, they were renting golf clubs and selling balls for $50 Pesos ($1) a piece here, which serious Korean tourists drove or chipped off of the ridge down into the crater lake, aiming for the tine, far-away island like they were trying to hit a hole-in-one.
 
But I wasn’t mad that there was “wala golf” – or no golf – since the government had shut down the practice for ecological reasons.

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Soon, after a few more photos and taking in the panorama, we started down. But I asked Fatima if we could go a different way. The Spanish Trail, called Daang Kastila in the native tongue, was more direct because it lacked all of the switchbacks, but was also far steeper and completely exposed to the sun.
 
There were no other tourists or even locals on this route, as all traffic had long been diverted to the other, more amenable and cooler path. The only signs of habitation were wooden crosses along the way, erected to recreate the 12 stations going back to the first Spanish friars who had settled this island in the 1500s.
 
As we reached the bottom in no time, I was feeling proud of my decision to lead us down this shorter trail…until I realized that we were still a couple kilometers from the main beach where our boat driver was waiting.
 
It was a straight shot on a semi-paved road only wide enough for two horses or motorbikes at the same time because there were no cars on the island as far as I’d seen. But that meant walking in direct sun as we were getting closer to the most sizzling part of the day. I chugged as much water as possible but still started swaying and seeing blurred from the heat, something I’ve actually grown accustomed to out here in extreme temps.

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But it was well worth it because we got to walk through several local hamlets – just a few shacks or one-room concrete bungalows at best, stationed in dark sand and dust. We said hi to the friendly, curious locals we passed.
 
Soon, we passed several young guys sitting in the shade of a tree, drinking shots out of a bottle. They called me over and asked if I wanted a shot, full well thinking I’d just keep walking.
 
Well, I didn’t want to be rude! So, I went over and took my medicine like a man…a warm shot of Ginebra gin at 11 in the morning, but they did have a pineapple juice chaser. 

Along the hour-long walk, Fatima confessed to us that she’d actually never taken that Spanish Trail in her year as a tour guide, so she was thankful that she was learnig soemthign from us! Enlivened that we were interested in her, her life, and her family, she welcomed us to her home when we passed by her four-house village, too.
 
We all took a break in the shade of the front porch as she collected a pitcher of cold water from inside. This was a big deal for her, and she glowed with pride to have two genuine new friends spend time at her house.
 
Remarking that my travel companion was so beautiful, she offered that she once wanted to be a model, too, through sugar cane-worn teeth and still-young, radiant face.
 
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But then, she got pregnant with her island boyfriend, so now the priority was just putting food on the table, and being a tour guide earned her 250 Pesos each trip - $5.

​So, her three trips per week earned her about $60 per month as a total income. Wow.
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We thanked her for her hospitality and I put the water glass to my lips and pretended to drink, pouring out half of the water on the ground when she wasn’t looking. Since there’s no way it was filtered water, it could actually be dangerous for me to drink with a delicate foreign stomach, but I didn’t want to offend her by not drinking. It worked like a charm and she had no idea.
 
We continued walking and passed a smattering of school kids coming home from their half day in class, wearing mismatched uniforms based on what they could afford. Fatima explained that there were so many kids on the island but only a few teachers, so they had to break the school days in half so every kid would at least get some education daily.
​
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The kids walked with us and some were shy, hiding behind their big sister or big brother, while others ran out for high fives or even asked our names with big smiles.
 
Soon, we reached our boat, and collected our boatman, who was napping under a tree. 
 
We thanked Fatima, gave her a tip equivalent to one week’s work, and took down the number to her cracked, ancient cell phone, promising to visit her when we came back or send others coming to Taal to her.
 
“When you come back, you can stay in my house overnight!” she offered, a little sad that we were departing.

***
​Little did we know that Fatima would be on our minds and in our prayers again so soon.

When we first heard the news of Taal’s eruption and saw the powerful and horrifying, yet somehow beautiful, photos, our thoughts went immediately to our guide and friend, Fatima
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But before I could even propose that we try to check on her, Joy had already texted Fatima and heard back. She was ok, but they had been evacuated not to safety on the “mainland” of Tagaytay or Batangas, well-off communities that surrounded the lake, but to a different island on Taal Lake. ​
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​There, they were stuck, as heavy rains made travel on the simple dirt roads impossible. Fatima told us that already, three jeepneys (simple passenger vehicles) had tried to navigate the treacherous, muddy roads but turned over and gone off the steep edge, killing 14 people total.

Sadly, that wasn’t even in the news here in the Philippines. The people living on Taal and in these communities are also the poorest of the poor, so they often don’t have a voice.

But we were happy to hear that Fatima was still ok, and we offered to help her any way we could. Within a day or two, she was able to get off the island and make it to the mainland, where she settled into an evacuation center.

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One of her family members defied the evacuation order and took a small boat back to Taal island to try and rescue their horses left there and check if anything was left of their little home. 

This is what they found...
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It's hard to believe that's the same happy, green place we visited.

Joy arranged for Fatima to receive a humble donation from us to help her family get through these tough times, and she managed to access it through a money wiring service that operates there. 

Here is the video of Fatima and her family saying thank you. Of course we’d do this to help any friend, but seeing them safe and so appreciative makes it all worth it!
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I'll tell Fatima that you said hi, and see you next month with a new postcard!

Your friend,

Norm  :-)
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    Norm Schriever is a best-selling author, expat, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. He travels the globe, telling the stories of the people he finds, and hopes to make the world a little bit better place with his words.   

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