Lots of photos, little text (I promise!) showing off our week-long fall trip to the northern mountains of Pakistan.  Flying into the city of Skardu in the Baltistan region, we pampered ourselves for a few days in an old fort-turned-hotel then hit the trail for some hard-core (sorta) trekking.  Check out these photos - you'll be jealous!

Not having posted since February, here's a quick catch-up on elections in Pakistan, life in Quetta, and a business/pleasure visit back to the US.

This poem about ascending juxtaposes hard working Pakistani concrete carriers with those who choose the suicide bomber's shortcut route to heaven.  Includes link to a poetry video.

I've always wanted to paint - you know, just slop liquid color onto something.  In Mansehra, Pakistan, during my three month stay in summer 2007, I finally fulfilled this urge.  If you choose to dive in don't expect great painterly talent, just those usual found objects...

During March and April 2007 I had a run of columns published in Dawn - a Pakistani English-language newspaper - one a week in their Saturday edition.  They were short pieces featuring something I found interesting about Islamabad life and accompanied by an original photo.  Inside you can find all eight of these slices of Pakistani life.

"What's the son of an Amish-Mennonite reverend doing in Kenilworth Courts?  Going after kiddie car thieves."

Cover story I wrote for the Nov. 17, 2006 edition of the Washington City Paper, DC's alternative weekly.  Lots of street-level action of my activism combating the spike in stolen auto joyriding in Kenilworth 2003 - 2006, with parallels to my father's experience in Kenilworth.

Download an electronic version of the popular booklet, Kenilworth: A DC Neighborhood By the Anacostia River, and read a summary of this grant- and community-funded project.

A hymn to the sights and sounds of Kenilworth, past and present, and to my two cultures there- Amish Mennonite and urban black.  Published in Divided City 's late summer 2005 issue.

Growing up in the urban black culture of Kenilworth, my siblings and I looked like rural Amish Mennonites but didn't always talk that way.

Some thoughts on writing as work, and the attitude toward work passed down to me by my father (a preacher) and grandfather (a farmer).  Published in Divided City , spring 2006.

An ode to the Amish Mennonite nonviolent stance and the Mennonite men who came to work in Kenilworth rather than fight in Vietnam.  Published in Beltway Poetry Quarterly's "The Wartime Issue," spring 2006.

My house at 4326 Douglas Street became a 'canvas' for an art installation more than once as I saved odd scraps from neighborhood trash piles or from catering extravagance and made them into something interesting.

These found object shadowboxes feature objects I picked up off the ground in Kenilworth and other local areas.  It's amazing the trash you see when you're looking for it, and what fun you can have with hot glue...

Art that reflects a choice toward peace and community wholeness, including some protest signs, a pile of stuffed animals, and some graffiti modifications.