“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver It’s graduation season in Mississippi. I didn’t deliver a commencement address this year, but I have combined, tweaked, and added to two letters that I gave to my two children when they left for college. The resultContinue reading “TO THE MISSISSIPPI GRADUATES OF 2023”
Author Archives: Robert
A Bridge Not Too Far At All
YPRES, BELGIUM— Friendships in the 21st Century carry a different dynamic. A constant connection throughout the World Wide Web has its share of positives and negatives. Many spend more time looking at small screens and stupid videos that make no sense to me. My 21-year old son finds them hilarious. There’s that, but I alsoContinue reading “A Bridge Not Too Far At All”
The Curious Case of a Sliding Door Monopoly Game
AMSTERDAM— A sliding door moment is a seemingly inconsequential action that alters the trajectory of future events. I am sitting in a bakery at 8:30 a.m. in the city center of Amsterdam, due to a board game. That is a sliding door moment. There’s a theory that the simple act of missing a train orContinue reading “The Curious Case of a Sliding Door Monopoly Game”
Pondering Chips
BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— Things are different over here. It’s not just the language. Spaces are smaller. Roads are tighter. Bathrooms are tinier. But there’s a reason for all of that. The roads are tighter because many were built over one thousand years ago and were meant to accommodate horses, carriages, wagons, and people traveling by foot.Continue reading “Pondering Chips”
An Easter to Remember
PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Most of my early childhood memories come from Christmas and Easter. If I let my memory go back as far as it will take me, I can remember opening gifts and the smell of the scotch pine Christmas tree. I also remember eating Christmas cookies. Over the past 61 years I’ll come acrossContinue reading “An Easter to Remember”
Perfect Simplicity
Sometimes the simplest things give me the most satisfaction. That probably seems like an obvious statement to most. I have only recently come to that realization in my personal life. For the first 30 years of my career, I was a hardcore devotee of fine dining. My early goal was to open a fine diningContinue reading “Perfect Simplicity”
A Lifetime Love Affair
TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— My love of bakeries goes back as far as my episodic memory will allow. The earliest bakery recollection I can drum up comes from the Blue Ribbon Bakery in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In a kid’s eyes a bakery is a wonderland of shapes, sizes, colors, and all things sweet. In 1968Continue reading “A Lifetime Love Affair”
Porcine Paradise
SEVILLE— Travel is situational. I could almost end this column with that first sentence. That sums up everything I am about to cover in the next 1,000 words or so. But let’s have some fun and flesh out that three-word opening. I’ve written countless times over the past 12 years about the long, six-month tripContinue reading “Porcine Paradise”
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling in Spain
MADRID—Irish pubs have always intrigued me. The attraction doesn’t come from the typical things one expects from a pub. I’m not interested in Guinness on tap, or Irish whiskey, or any alcohol for that matter. I’m not a prude, and I’m certainly not against responsible alcohol consumption (it put both of my kids through college),Continue reading “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling in Spain”