The Observer Effect: Recent Episodes
The Observer Effect
These are strangers' travel stories. Each time I ask how travel has changed them and hope listening like this evaporates borders.
Rachel was a Fellow with the U.S. State Department’s English Language Program in Sulawesi. She embraced challenges like finding ants in her food to unravel her fears and came away reflecting on how race shapes our experience. I asked how she became such a good storyteller … and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Armen was a Fellow with the U.S. State Department’s English Language Program in Mauritius. I asked how the experience changed him … and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Listen to Armen's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/armen-kassabian/id1451319621
Consider donating to Westin's Fund: https://www.westinsfund.org/
Joan took part in this past August’s “Digital Dunkirk,” the frantic effort to help Afghans escape the Taliban when the U.S. withdrew after two decades in Afghanistan. During those sleepless nights, she began advocating, writing articles calling on the U.S. government to honor its commitment to the people who served alongside its military. I asked how Afghans came to mean so much to her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Click to read Joan’s articles:
“Digital Dunkirk” - Mother Jones
“Op-Ed: Afghan Interpreters” - The Miami Herald
“How Congress failed AFG” - The Orlando Sentinel
“Breaking hearts and minds” - Military Times
“From Quant Tin to Kabul”
“The Class Is Yours, Hamid”
“From PC to AFG” - The Providence College Podcast
Aziza told me the religious police arrested her and her fiancé in Saudi Arabia. The interrogator asked, “Did you hit the religious police?” I was like, “Damn yes I did!” I asked if that experience changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund: westinsfund.org
“Peculiar traveling suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” —Kurt Vonnegut
Jean was readier to answer my questions—as if he had somehow prepared—than anyone I have interviewed in the course of this project when we met randomly at a fountain in an alcove of Casablanca’s wondrous mosque by the sea. I asked him why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
"Family is never lost." —Creole Proverb
Étienne has decorated his entire Paris apartment with paraphernalia from The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s book. I asked what happened when he came home from nearly a year traveling the world ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
"On n'est jamais content là où on est." —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Caracola left Buenos Aires at 19 to study anthropology in Paris but soon realized her calling is to be a clown. She has been studying intensely and touring the world performing in streets and studios ever since. I asked whether she has traveled to be able to perform or performed to be able to travel ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Follow Caracola on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caracolaaaa/
Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
"Y ya que a ti no llega mi voz ruda, óyeme sordo." —Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Mohibul runs the restaurant his father established when he moved from Bangladesh to London. They named it Al-Amin, which means “trust.” I asked how he learned to connect so well with his customers ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Visit Al-Amin Restaurant in East London: https://alaminrestaurant.com/
Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
"I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do." —Henry David Thoreau
Anja left Bosnia as a toddler and lives there now to reconnect with her roots. I asked if she has found herself in her journeys ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund (westinsfund.org).
Learn more about Youth Power (https://www.youth-power.org/).
“The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.” —Audre Lorde
Indra broke up with his girlfriend in Turkey just months into traveling the world together and set off the series of events that brought him to South Korea. He almost died in Mexico. I asked whether he’s going to write all these experiences ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund, an organization that covers the medical costs of families who lose children to stillbirth and miscarriage: http://www.westinsfund.org/
“The longest absence is less perilous to love than the terrible trials of incessant proximity.” —Edna St. Vincent Millay
Meytal felt uncomfortable just following the typical path of a young Israeli, school, the army, job, and so she found another path that took her to India—and eventually, back to Israel. I asked whether people here comment on her Yemeni roots ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boule.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund (http://www.westinsfund.org/).
"If you want to study yourself—look into the hearts of other people." —Friedrich von Schiller
Odna was summoned by the police in Nazareth and questioned about her Facebook activity. They said they were secretly listening to her conversations as well. I asked what her name means ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund (http://www.westinsfund.org/).
"I have been a stranger here in my own land." Sophocles
Frank McCourt wrote his beloved memoir, Angela’s Ashes, about a childhood spent in Ireland. Una Heaten turned the schoolhouse he attended into a museum honoring his book and his legacy. I traveled to Limerick to ask what it’s like to build a museum ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to the WestinsFund.org.
Visit the Frank McCourt Museum: https://frankmccmuseum.wixsite.com/
"Telling stories is sure medicine." —Primo Levi
Nellie Bly set out in 1889 to beat Jules Verne’s fictional circumnavigation of the globe by ten days and report along the way, but that’s only one among her many adventures. I asked Nathan Mannion of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum what made Nellie so special ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Visit EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum at epicchq.com.
And please consider donating to Westinsfund.org.
"Standing there alone among strange people, I thought how sweet life is!" —Nellie Bly
St. Francis of Assisi attached himself to a band of crusaders in the hopes that when he met the sultan in Egypt, his words could dissuade everyone from fighting. I asked a monk named Stephen who lives in Assisi whether he was successful ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Donate to http://westinsfund.org to help cover the medical costs of families who lose children to miscarriage and stillbirth.
"Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand." —St. Francis of Assisi
Vincent Van Gogh left the Netherlands to paint the South of France near the end of his life and created some of the most famous and lasting works in his short career there. I asked Marion Ley of the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." —Vincent Van Gogh
PJ Murphy dresses like a chemist to greet the visitors to Sweny’s Pharmacy who come to Dublin to experience James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses. At Kennedy’s Pub and Station across the street—that Joyce surely visited as well—before a lovely warm live audience, I asked how PJ ended up at the center of such a moving literary pilgrimage ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Westin’s Fund (http://westinsfund.org) is a foundation started by my brother and his wife to help cover the medical costs of families who lose children to miscarriage and stillbirth. There’s no better week to donate than now as we celebrate James Joyce’s Ulysses, which deals with exactly that tragedy and its lingering effects. Click on the link above. Even a small amount helps. Tell them I sent you!
"I saw the danger, yet I passed along the enchanted way." —Patrick Kavanagh
John Steinbeck packed up his dog and a few belongings into a camper he christened Rocinante and set out on the road late in life to discover America. I asked the head archivist at the National Steinbeck Center why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Visit the National Steinbeck Center at www.steinbeck.org.
And learn more about their upcoming festival, In Search of America, on August 2 and 3—www.steinbeck.org/event/steinbeck-festival-2019.
Also, consider making a donation to Westinsfund.org to help cover the medical costs of families who lose children to miscarriage and stillbirth.
"The way is open." —John Steinbeck
Mikey spent years as a helicopter pilot before becoming to a storyteller. You can see his filmmaking at MikeyKay.com. I asked how he approaches interviewing—in other words how he deals with “the observer effect” ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Visit www.MikeyKay.com to see his films.
Donate to Westinsfund.org.
"Your thought kindled a fire beside you that showed a path." Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri
Ryan needed a place to decompress after serving in the military, so he went to L’Abri, a communal living center in the English countryside. I asked what exactly it was that reversed his political stance ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Donate to westinsfund.org to help cover the costs of families who have miscarriages.
“So hadde I spoken with hem everichon That I was of hir felawshipe anon.” —Chaucer
Joe ditched his drone in the middle of a herd of cattle in Scotland. The question was how to get it out again. I asked how travel shapes his creativity building the props for the Star Wars movies ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé and Grupo Sonkoy.
Consider donating to www.kiva.org or www.westinsfund.org.
“Whole castles have vanished from my memory, whole cities I have never visited again.” —Ford Madox Ford
Gabriel and his girlfriend left Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean to travel the entire world. We met in Valparaíso, Chile nine months in. I asked what could make them leave paradise ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
Donate to Westin's Fund—westinsfund.org
"Je te reconnaître dans tous les hommes." —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Dominik moved to Berlin to become a poet, which makes him uniquely suited to tell the story of a visit to Auschwitz. I asked why he thought the German capital would change him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
Donate to Westin's Fund at http://www.westinsfund.org/
"May they be safe where it is told." —Peig Sayers
Caleb moved his family to Panama to begin a teaching career. I asked if he would pick me up at the airport after we met on Twitter ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Donate to Westin’s Fund, a group that defrays the medical costs for families who lose children to miscarriages at westinsfund.org.
“Keep reaching out to the Unknown in others, whatever the odds.”
—Graham Murtaugh
Emma once lived at a kibbutz in Israel. I asked what it takes to integrate in the Irish countryside ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
"Suppose you do find a premise in your wanderings." —Lajos Egri
Jeannette and her golden retriever, Bram, host the best Airbnb that I have ever stayed at—a barn in a village just outside Amsterdam. I asked why the landscape looks so much like the paintings by the Dutch masters ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
Visit her website to learn more about the work she does: http://www.oasefoundation.eu/project/101
"To look at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots of a map." —Vincent Van Gogh
Peter oversees the creation of the most wonderful gelato in Rome, at Fata Morgana Gelato. Though Italian by ancestry, he grew up in Canada and moved to the bel paese only later. I asked what it felt like to immigrate ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
"I wander and wander along, and forever before me gleams the shining city of song." —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Cristina took us into the Real Maestranza, Seville’s cathedral of bullfighting, when no one else was there. I asked what to look for when the season started the following day ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
"A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it." —Virginia Woolf
Christopher decided to simplify his life and move into a van. I asked a number of logistical questions ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
Follow Christopher on Instagram: CHIGUY79 https://www.instagram.com/chiguy79/?hl=en
Donate to Westin's Fund, a charity that relieves the financial burden of grieving families: http://westinsfund.org
"Have the courage to digress." —John McPhee
Sam rode his new bike from Ireland to Prague where we met in front of the Lennon Wall, a living memorial layered over in years of graffiti. Decades ago, Beatles quote scribbled there launched the Velvet Revolution. I asked what words he added ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
Follow Michal Oliver Music on Facebook→
"Oh to be a sparrowhawk." —Anonymous Troubadour, Eleventh Century
Jo may not have been as prepared as she needed to be when she visited the U.S. I asked her to describe the shipwreck where we met ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé.
"The more people I meet, the happier I become." Samuel Beckett
William makes props for the new Star Wars films at Pinewood Studios in London. We met on the Inca Trail in Peru. I asked how places like Machu Picchu and Sayaqmarka shape his work ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé and Grupo Sonkoy.
Follow The Observer Effect Podcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theobservereffect/
"On est seul aussi chez les hommes." —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Henry tried three times to cross the border into the U.S., a long journey from his home in Honduras. He has been a translator for Mission Lazarus since coming back. I asked why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit Missionlazarus.org.
"Blessed are those in whose hearts are roads." —Psalm 84:5
Meghan had an epiphany in Mexico. I asked whether it’s possible to bring her insight back into settled life ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund, a charity that covers the costs for grieving parents related to miscarriages and stillbirths:
http://www.westinsfund.org/
"Les soins accordés au malade, l’accueil offert au proscrit, le pardon même ne valent que grâce au sourire qui éclaire la fête. Nous nous rejoignons dans le sourire au-dessus des langages, des castes, des partis. Nous sommes les fidèles d’une même Église, tel et ses coutumes, moi et les miennes." —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Wade Goddard established a museum for war photography that you must visit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, War Photo Limited. He came to Yugoslavia in the 90s. I asked what it was like to travel in a country that no longer exists ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit War Photo Limited: www.warphotoltd.com.
"Is there a time for keeping your distance?" —U2
Z spent some time traveling in a band, so naturally, I asked whether that changed him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Consider donating to Westin's Fund, a charity that covers the costs for grieving parents related to miscarriages and stillbirths. www.westinsfund.org
"Are you not moved, when the sway of earth shakes like a thing unfirm?" —Shakespeare
Martin Luther King, Jr. moved to Chicago in 1966 to try to end slums. I did not know until a few years ago, so I went to the spot where he lived and asked Trevor Riley, the community organizer in charge of the MLK Fair Housing Exhibit Center at the MLK Legacy Apartments in North Lawndale to tell the story of that campaign ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit the MLK Fair Housing Exhibit Center: https://www.facebook.com/LawndaleCDC/posts/mlk-fair-housing-exhibit-center/710955915594964/
"The human spirit does not move without great difficulty." —Martin Luther King, Jr.
President Obama visited his ancestral village to learn about where his family came from. I asked a local there to tell me what that day was like ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.
Thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
The Keats-Shelley House in Rome overlooks the Spanish Steps where the great English poet John Keats lived his final days. I asked its director, Dr. Giuseppe Albano, what moved Keats ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit www.keats-shelley-house.org.
Listen to Eltaj's story of visiting there in Episode 92: The Wave and Sea.
"Who reads into distances reads beyond us." —Seamus Heaney
Ernest Hemingway lived in Chicago, Italy, Kansas City, Paris, Toronto, Arkansas, Spain, Cuba, Florida, and finally, Idaho. I asked Nancy Sindelar, whose recent book Influencing Hemingway traces how these places and other factors might have shaped his writing, what moved him to travel so much ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders.
You can find Nancy Sindelar's Influencing Hemingway: People and Places that Shaped His Life and Work on Amazon.
Or you can visit her site: nancysindelar.com.
Special thanks to the musician Dana Boule.
"Se vuelve de la inspiración como se vuelve de un país extranjero. El poema es la narración del viaje." —Federico García Lorca
Gabriel García Márquez began his writing career in Cartagena, Colombia, but it took him all over the world. I asked a guide there, Duran Duran, to tell me what exactly happened during his exile in Mexico City that made Márquez sequester himself to write his great book One Hundred Years of Solitude ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to Duran Duran for so meticulously researching Márquez's life and literature to make the tour so satisfying. And special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Make sure that when you visit Cartagena, you take the incredible tour of Márquez's life with Duran Duran: https://www.facebook.com/DuranDurantourscartagena/
“K. kept feeling that he had lost himself, or was further away in a strange land than anyone had ever been before, a distant country where even the air was unlike the air at home, where you were likely to stifle in the strangeness of it, yet such were its senseless lures that you could only go on, losing your way even more.” —Franz Kafka
James Joyce never lived in Dublin again once he left yet poured all he knew of the city into his masterpiece Ulysses. I asked the Friends of the Joyce Tower Society in Sandycove, where the novel begins, just exactly how this self-imposed exile shaped Joyce's art ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to James Holahan for his wonderful skill at bringing Joyce and Ulysses to life. And special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Be sure to visit the James Joyce Tower & Museum in Sandycove—www.joycetower.ie
"A way a lone a last a loved a long." —James Joyce
Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago, Chile has been preserved as a museum, called La Chascona. I asked Javier Ormeño Bustos to explain how travel shaped the great poet's life ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
You can learn more about the events described in this episode at the following links:
The general context and implications of the Spanish refugees in France:
https://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/03/inenglish/1441275302_272830.html
A testimony in English by one of the refugees, Elena Castedo:
http://www.elenacastedo.com/blog.htm?post=633104
Some articles of Winnipeg on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Winnipeg
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaje_del_Winnipeg_de_1939
A very good site on the Winnipeg, curated by the National Library of Chile:
http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-732.html
An article by Neruda himself on the Winnipeg.
http://pablo-neruda2-france.blogspot.cl/2009/06/el-winnipeg-y-otros-poemas.html
“My spirit has pass’d in compassion and determination around the whole earth, I have look’d for equals and lovers and found them ready for me in all lands …” —Walt Whitman
Mathias first went with his great-grandfather to India at age 7, but that's only one of the many stories he told me about his travels and how they have fed into all the aid work he does now. I asked where we can find more information about his projects ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit his social media services company at SuperSocial.at.
Visit his social change project at DigitalParticipationCamp.org.
"I say friends in the larger sense of the word: persons seen only once or frequented my whole life: provided that between us, at least for a moment, a string stretched, a well-defined thread."
—Primo Levi
Eltaj left Sudan and crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, where we met in a small migrant camp at an abandoned train station in Rome. I asked if he wanted to visit the Keats-Shelley House together ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
"Sus sueños terminaban frente a ese mar color de ceniza, espumoso y sucio, que no merecía los riesgos y sacrificios de su aventura." —Gabriel García Márquez
Majda took us into her home in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina with a glass of grappa. I asked why she had to rebuild that home ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
Or consider getting involved with the work Preemptive Love does among displaced peoples.
https://preemptivelove.org/
https://www.worldrelief.org/
"Di noi ciascuno reca l’impronta dell’amico incontrato per via; in ognuno la traccia di ognuno." —Primo Levi
Ilmari describes himself as an Eskimo with blond hair. We met in the Sahara Desert. I asked if reindeer and the Northern Lights really played a large role in his life growing up in Lapland ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Shame is thrown aside when one travels." —Jippensha Ikku
Ilham did everything she could to live in Marrakesh. I asked how to make lemon saffron chicken tajine ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
This is the Two Year Anniversary of the Observer Effect!
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Follow the curve of the sentence wherever it might lead, into deserts, under drifts of sand." —Virginia Woolf
Johan coordinated volunteers at a refugee camp in Greece. I asked why he had moved from Sweden to Syria previously ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
"The truth is a pathless land." —Tiziano Terzani
Ibrahim escaped Eritrea through the Sahara Desert hidden in the back of a car, crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy crowded into a boat, and now waits in Sweden studying in an old schoolhouse. I asked what language he speaks ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"I didn’t make such an endless journey just to be sent back again now." —Franz Kafka
Alanka could only briefly share a few impressions of Cuba, but the real story is how he and his family got out, and even better what happened in Japan. I asked how these places shaped him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"All the interest we had felt in the place was gone, and we only wanted to get away." —John L. Stephens
Marsh spent decades smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. We met at L'Abri, a quiet home in the English countryside, where people come to sort out their questions about God. I asked what was the most memorable ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na doine."
Mohammad flew to London from Kuwait while I was there, so we had coffee together. I asked if he likes to travel ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"It is only when you meet someone from a different culture from yourself that you begin to realise what your own beliefs really are." —George Orwell
Eliska realized her dream of living in the mountains year after year, and the result is one of the best Airbnb locales in the world. I asked what effect meeting so many fascinating travelers has had on her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit Haus Sonneneck→ Listen to Orry in Episode 30→ Listen to Hitoshi in Episode→ Listen to Amin in Episode 55→ Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
“The good host is not merely polite to the guest—the good host assumes that the guest has stories to tell.” —Parker Palmer
Onur had a lot to say about his appearance that I lost when I deleted the first part of our conversation in another "slight" episode. I asked why he came to Belize ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Now I must bore you with certain abstract things, but I hope you will listen patiently to them." —Vincent Van Gogh
Torleif is a self-proclaimed Viking. I asked what he thought of the food in Thailand in another "slight" episode ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"I am all of the people I have met." —Jorge Luis Borges
Camiseta plays accordion in Buenos Aires every weekend. This is the first of a series of "slight" episodes, encounters I recorded that may not warrant a full treatment but deserve to be heard nonetheless—or seen in this case. Click the link below to watch a video version of Camiseta with subtitles on our Facebook page. I asked whether he travels a lot ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Watch the subtitled video of Camiseta→ on our Facebook page: https://facebook.com/theobservereffect/
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Globalization has a way of tinting its holdouts in a romantic glow." —Stephen Metcalf
Flic had nowhere to sleep when a sandstorm overtook her in Bethlehem. I asked what it was like living in China ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"It is required of [everyone] that the spirit within them should walk abroad among [their] fellow [people], and travel far and wide." —Charles Dickens
Lhamo runs Momo Tibetan Dumplings Corner in Brussels with a particularly keen ethical conscience. I asked what it felt like the first time she visited her homeland ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Every exile lasts too long." —Luis Sepúlveda
Carina hosts Easy German on Youtube, but that's actually only a small part of her and her husband Janusz's larger story. I asked whether the majority of Germans felt remorse after World War II ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Visit Easy German on Youtube→ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbxb2fqe9oNgglAoYqsYOtQ
Visit The Global Experience→ http://www.theglobalexperience.org/
Life Back Home→ https://www.facebook.com/lifebackhome/
"The pathway leading to their homes was not clear." —The Popol Vuh
Travis told a story at the foot of Machu Picchu that has stayed with me ever since. I had asked whether being a soldier in Iraq changed him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Also, a very special thanks to Carlos Molina Rojas for providing the opening music. You can hear more of his band, Grupo Sonkoy, on Youtube by clicking.
Visit Preemptive Love→ preemptivelove.org
This is an organization that does relief work in Iraq.
"We are edged with mist. We make insubstantial territories." —Virginia Woolf
Larry's life changed when he took his very first hike into the paradise at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in his fifties. I asked what prompted that fateful trip ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Also, a very special thanks to Carlos Molina Rojas for providing the opening music. You can hear more of his band, Grupo Sonkoy, on Youtube.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Hope is like a path in the countryside. At first there is nothing, but as people walk that way, a path appears." —Lu Xun
Gloria longed to visit Peru and climb Machu Picchu, like so many of us. I asked what happened when she got to Cusco ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Also, a very special thanks to Carlos Molina Rojas for providing the opening music. You can hear more of his band, Grupo Sonkoy, on Youtube.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"One is drawn irresistibly onward by ever-recurring surprises through a deep, winding gorge, turning and twisting past overhanging cliffs of incredible heights." —Hiram Bingham
Tony rode freight trains for nine years, picking up a wife, a son, and a dog along the way. I met him and his dog, Pig, on a Greyhound bus ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Wisdom listens." —Jimi Hendrix
Kathy oversees the English Language Academy at DePaul University, where international students transition into a new culture and a second or third or fourth language. I asked her to come tell us how their stories have changed her at our very first live show at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Special thanks to the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum too.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Medicine is the meaningful work found in the mutual exchange between people." —Terri Kapsalis
Anne moved from Indonesia to South Korea to Chicago, where we sat down with her in front a live audience at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum to discuss a very visible change that travel caused in her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Distilling is beautiful." —Primo Levi
Mike left the U.S. with his wife and kids to learn Spanish and build a church in Spain. I asked which beliefs survived the journey and which didn't ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
“One of you spoke words of warm consolation for my traveling thousands of miles of sea over such a long period to come to your country.” —Shusaku Endo
Jay has so many stories I didn't know where to begin. A pilgrimage in Japan. A pilgrimage in Spain. A cathedral in France. A temple in Korea. I asked how these discoveries have changed him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Walked all day and the next day. The road straight, grey, dusty, and trafficless." —Bruce Chatwin
Daniel took me to the cafe in Buenos Aires where Borges used to read stories to his mother. I asked what it was like to immigrate to the US and then back to Argentina again, and how he ended up in Sicily along the way ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org
"The fox makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction." —Wendell Berry
Liz sat down with me on the steps of Oslo Sentralstasjon before departing further north to the Svalbard archipelago to look for polar bears. I asked what it's like being a diplomat from New Zealand ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org
"Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente." —Santiago, Chile
Cafemin is a way station in Mexico City on the migrant route from Latin America to the US. I asked the director how people change when they rest there ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Like Cafemin on Facebook→
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org
"I feel always below the grace of their behavior the instinctive, primeval hatred of the stranger." —W. Somerset Maugham
Maria is a translator from the south of Spain. I asked whether there's ever been an idea she couldn't get across ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org
“A word spoken by chance might have strange consequences.” —Nalungiaq
Fred and I traveled to Cádiz for Carnaval together. On the way back he told me how New Caledonia changed his life. I asked what it's like to work in Paris's equivalent of the TSA ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Tal vez el lugar que añoro nunca existió." —Isabel Allende
Saundra always used to get lost when she was a kid. Now she's on a quest to get to 100 countries. We spoke at Wish Willy's, a jerk chicken specialist's in Caye Caulker, Belize, which was her 79th country. I asked how her quest has changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"There is nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." —John Lennon
Kenneth came to the Nobel Museum in Stockholm expecting more artifacts but ended up leaving one of his own. I asked how in the world he met Jorge Luis Borges ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at kiva.org
"I deplore the fact that you have not yet received a Nobel Prize, especially when it was given to so many who deserved it less, like me, who am only an adventurer." —Ernest Hemingway
Jarrod Brown recently became a citizen of Honduras, the culmination of a two-decade transformation that began with one fateful overseas trip. He is the founder of Mission Lazarus, a non-profit organization that seeks to transform people’s lives through Jesus and through action. Jarrod's led a life full of travel stories, so I hardly knew where to begin, except of course to ask what happened to him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Check out Mission Lazarus→ at missionlazarus.org
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." —Mark Twain
Danny is from near my hometown, just outside Chicago, but we met sitting on top of a 125 foot stone temple that peeks out of thick jungle. I asked what he'd take away from his trip to Guatemala ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Did not Columbus himself set sail because he had read Marco Polo's narrative?" —Tzvetan Todorov
Sune takes care of a Mayan ceremonial site on a tiny lake in Guatemala that's ringed by volcanoes. A famed spiritual energy there attracts hippies, tourists, local faithful, and other seekers. We spoke, by chance, in Copenhagen, where he summers. Since I've been to those fire rings in Lago de Atitlán too, I asked what the coincidence of our meeting in Denmark could mean ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org
"Amo el amor de los marineros que besan y se van ..." —Valaparaíso, Chile
Dakota was intentionally trying to get lost at the Art Institute of Chicago. I asked what he looked like ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"One of us will talk, the other will listen." —György Konrád
Patxi ran with the bulls, and I caught up with him near Iruña Cafe, where Hemingway used to write. I asked a very special guest to translate his side of our conversation ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"I have learned a great deal from listening carefully." —Ernest Hemingway
Amin was a trance DJ from Singapore, until he traveled to Sri Lanka for his last show. I asked how Austria brought him closer to his faith ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"I hope the leaving is joyful, and I hope never to return." —Frida Kahlo
Janusz made a movie in Namibia. He claims to look like a neanderthal. I asked how it felt to escape communist Poland ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
Learn Easy German on Youtube→ at EasyGerman.org
Check out the Global Experience→ TheGlobalExperience.org
“The most unhappy eyes in the world are those that can not flow tears.” —Kornel Makuszyński
Michal needs funds to repair his time machine and get back to the 1960s. I asked what we can do to help ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Follow Michal Oliver Music on Facebook→ https://www.facebook.com/michalolivermusic
"So ... be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to great places!" —Theodor Geisel
Jaey is in the process of moving from Seoul to Barcelona by way of South America. We met in a blustery corner of Chile, where he told three beautiful stories from his trip. I asked why he's not allowed into the most famous soccer stadium in Buenos Aires ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"We are for the most part lonely when we go abroad." —Henry David Thoreau
Part 2 of our special 50th Episode celebration!
We look back at some of the stories that resonated this year and what their sum could mean. At the end I tell the story of the man in Burma who made me hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. And a very special thanks to Dave for stepping in to host again this week.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Where we are is who we are." —Fernando Pessoa
Part 1 of our special 50th Episode mile marker!
A friend helped me lift the hood to look into the engine of this podcast. Inside we found a Yeats poem, the story of the coin Primo Levi brought back from Auschwitz, and why his is the path I most want to follow. And of course, as always, I hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. And to Allison for taking this photo. And a very special thanks to Dave for stepping in to host this week and share W.B. Yeats's fitting "The Song of Wandering Aengus."
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org
"Any careful word may suggest a route, may a strand of metaphor or event out of which much, or all, will develop." —Annie Dillard
Elio and I met in a cwm, a mountain valley carved by a glacier. What he said there led me to reflect on the sublime ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "What is wonderful always goes together with a sense of dismay." —Pseudo-Longinus
Andes has to get a letter from the office of labor in Bonn, so that he can extend his stay in Berlin, before returning to Sweden to continue his studies, before ultimately, maybe, one day returning to Indonesia. I went with him to the post office ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. “What I hear most often as I travel the country are five words that never, ever fail to touch my heart, that’s ‘I am praying for you.’” —Donald Trump
Binta took her very first trip alone at a very young age. Looking back, she wonders if maybe she might have been too trusting. We asked why she's traveling alone still ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "All my days I've longed to travel the right road and to take my own errant path." —Sigrid Undset
Kaveesh grew up in Toronto and wonders what he might have been had he only ever stayed there rather than study in London. We asked who's on the other path that diverged from the one he chose ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org. "I know you must hold secrets, such a long way from home. Some day you won't be so alone. Some day you'll be where you should go." —Britt Daniel
Silas works at Harding University in Greece, an overseas program where students spend a semester just outside Athens. A former attendee himself, he now leads the trips around the Mediterranean that made such a big impact on his life. I asked whether he could put into words what this kind of experience does to a young person ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org. "The mere exercise of attention—eyes wide, ears pricked, heart open—is not a bad way to move through the world." —Mary Karr
Helkin moved to Chicago from Venezuela to study English, with dreams of big city life and plans to return to the company that gave him time off. He ended up falling in love and getting married. I asked why he came out ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ on Kiva.org. "Trembling knees and an unrelenting sense of failure is one way forward." —Terri Kapsalis
Bertrand shared a traditional Italian drink with us from a wooden, six-spouted pot—called La Grolla—one evening in his home in Bordeaux with his girlfriend Anna. We had no idea how rich a story he would tell when we asked what his tattoo means ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ on Kiva.org. "It seemed to me beyond the realms of possibility that I should travel so far." —Sigmund Freud
Anna was once a stewardess and did something unexpected on her regular route to Kenya, but that's just one small part of her story. She met her boyfriend Bertrand in Australia, when she moved there from Italy because of a tragedy. And we met them when we stayed in their apartment in Bordeaux, France through Airbnb. Nearly every night, they cooked a special dish for us since they're chefs. We couldn't believe our good fortune, asking excitedly how all these travels changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team at Kiva.org. "As often happens with the most beautiful adventures in life, this journey began by chance." —Tiziano Terzani
Tomek visited Frida Kahlo's Blue House in Mexico City, little knowing that I would interview him while we stood in line. I asked him to describe one of her paintings ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. "As a matter of fact, there is just as much that is interesting, strange, mysterious, and wonderful; just as much to be learned that is edifying, broadening, and refining in a cabbage as there is in a page of Latin." —Booker T. Washington
Hamou did not want to share his story with me. This is the first anniversary of The Observer Effect. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. "Great eloquence may seem to be inarticulate." —Laozi
Haval traveled for the very first time in his life when he had to flee Iraq. Suddenly a political asylee in Tennessee, he could not return to Kurdistan, so he met his family in Istanbul instead, as soon as possible, four years later. We met for the first time just after his return from a trip to Mecca. I asked how it felt to be a pilgrim ... and to abruptly spend six years becoming a U.S. citizen ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Go to PreemptiveLove.org/likesomeonewhoisthirsty to donate to refugees in Iraq. "It is precisely for surprise that true education prepares us." —Ivan Illich
Carroll moved from Chicago to Arkansas, then Texas. I asked why he didn't feel worthy of going on the trip to Hawaii his kids gave him to celebrate his thirty-fifth anniversary ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Elsie's story on Kiva.org. Only 25 days left to help her reach her goal. Go to this link to make a small loan: https://www.kiva.org/lend/1226339 "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." —Numbers 6:24-26
Mary Ann wanted to support the effort to block the Dakota Access Pipeline but also wanted to make sure her intent was the right one. I asked whether going to Standing Rock changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Whether you go or not, Mary Ann highly recommends reading the Resource Packet at: Standing Rock Solidarity Network→ Also check out Kiva.org. "A sentence starts out like a lone traveler heading into a blizzard at midnight." —Billy Collins
The Hull House Museum in Chicago has one particular item on which they have lavished special attention. Instead of a paper label stuck to the wall simply telling what the object is, they commissioned a book to draw every visitor into a slow museum experience. I tracked down and asked its author, Terri Kapsalis, what role travel played in shaping Jane Addams and Hull House ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. You can buy Terri's book on the Hull House Museum website: http://www.hullhousemuseum.org/online-store/alternative-label-jane-addams-travel-medicine-kit. Check out Kiva.org to loan capital to a small business like Guillermina Cocepcion in Ecuador. "To be everywhere is to be nowhere." —Seneca
The Freud Museum at Berggasse 19 in Vienna showcases among other artifacts from the psychoanalyst's life, his suitcase, stamped with his initials and the name of his adopted city. They also published a book called Freud's Travels. I asked what led him to choose travel as one of the defining metaphors of his work ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to make a loan to a small business owner in a place where capital is hard to find. Special thanks to Peter Noemaier, Monika Pessler, and Daniela Finzi for sharing their research on Freud. "Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart." —Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Moby-Dick Marathon draws fans of Herman Melville's classic from all over the world to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts every January to read the great book straight through over 25 glorious hours. Afterwards, I sat down with a scholar who has taught Melville in Pakistan and led his own life of adventure. I asked why Melville took that fateful first voyage on the Acushnet in 1840 ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. "Such opportunities can arise only during a conversation." —Franz Kafka
Gerald and Franz walk for five days every year along the Camino de Santiago, the traditional route of pilgrims from all over Europe to the western coast of Spain, picking up where they left off the last year. We asked why they started their pilgrimage ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to make a loan to a small business on the other side of the world. "On the first day of our pilgrimage I barely used my camera." —Patti Smith
Hitoshi spent a decade saving for his and his wife Yoko's dream of traveling the world only to realize it with their two little daughters just before they hit school age. We asked Sana and Rena what their favorite country is ... and hope listening like this makes borders as meaningless to us as they are to them. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Hitoshi's website→tabikazoku.com. Go to Kiva.org and join The Observer Effect Team to lend capital to a small business in on the other side of the world and make a big difference. "Unfortunately, I have gained no wealth for my children and descendants except this true story." —Bernal Diaz
Giorgio pivoted from architecture to journalism, now researching and writing novels from his wondrous apartment in one of the more fascinating corners of Rome. I asked what the abstract painting of a man lying prone in a strange body of water on his wall meant ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. It was a dream his mother had. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Team at Kiva.org to lend a small amount of money that makes a big difference in the life of a business owner in a country like Togo or Peru. "What happens tomorrow is not always important." —Primo Levi
I met Orry panning for gold in the Austrian Tyrol. He taught me the word "petrichor." I asked him to tell his best travel story ... and he did not disappoint. We hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org. "Men dig tons of earth to find an ounce of gold." —Heraclitus
Vixen, Street Poet, wrote me an on-the-spot work when I ran into her in Oxford. I asked how we can help ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org and let us know what you think. "Nothing in the world is as painful as the feeling of not being like." —Sei Shōnagon
Jürgen became a US citizen in the Caribbean, nearly missed out on Burning Man, and once got arrested in Oklahoma, but those might not even be his best stories. We asked how to ameliorate solitude—and find mushrooms—in the Swedish forest where he lives now ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to make a small business loan in a developing country and change the world. "What I am about to say is so strange that I scarcely know how to make my meaning clear." —Boethius
Isabel coordinated volunteers for Lighthouse Relief in Ritsona refugee camp in Greece, but that wasn't the important part, according to her. This will be the last in our series of episodes from Ritsona for a while. We asked refugees to tell us their stories and volunteers to tell us theirs ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Thanks as always to the musician Dana Boulé. Check out Lighthouserelief.org to see how you can volunteer with refugees in Greece. "And why complain of more, why complain of very much more." —Gertrude Stein
Hanan did not want to give birth in Greece. She crossed from Turkey after escaping Syria while pregnant. Now little Ahmed is her happiness. We asked how he was born ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Thanks as always to the musician Dana Boulé. "The new must be dovetailed into the old as it were, if it were to endure." —Jane Addams
Yousef and his wife made the difficult choice to leave Syria with their children four years after their factory and home were burned to charcoal. They went by rubber boat from Turkey to the island of Chios in Greece. We asked him to tell us the story ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Thanks as always to the musician Dana Boulé. "There are people whom we do not fully know, and yet they live in a warm place within us." —Ta-Nehisi Coates
Alberto went rogue while volunteering at Ritsona refugee camp, moving into one of the tents to live closer to his new friends. We followed him there to ask why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Thanks as always to the musician, Dana Boulé. And a very special thanks to Joan for letting us record him playing saz. Check out Alberto's podcast for nonconformists at mimundoenlamochila.com. "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough." —Robert Capa
Adnan spent 45 days escaping Syria with his four children. Now he's waiting in Greece to find out where the EU will decide to put them. We asked our friend Yousef to translate his story ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. "We were tired of everything, tired in particular of perforating useless frontiers." —Primo Levi
Romane was too young to volunteer at a refugee camp in Greece when she first decided to go. We asked how she learned to enjoy "giving without receiving" ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org. "This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled." —Paulo Freire
Siba needs to move. She has been waiting in a refugee camp seven months for her asylum application to be processed by the EU. She teaches math to children. She lives with her mother and siblings in a tent. She studies English. We did not ask what she wants ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. "I could never tell it so that it could be imagined." —Dante Alighieri
Ferdinand spent two weeks naked in Australia. We asked what, if anything he learned ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org. “Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.” —Vincent van Gogh
Bishupal tried to renew his visa to study in the United States, from Morocco; they told him he needed to go back to Nepal. We asked whether travel really changes people, since he's a professor of postcolonial theory ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to make a small business loan in a place where it can really make a difference. "All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art." —Jorge Luis Borges
Flore studied abroad in Portugal through the Erasmus Programme and unexpectedly fell in love. We asked what it felt like when the program ended and she had to go home ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to knit the world one stitch closer together. "Coming home at last at the end of the year, I wept to find my old umbilical cord." —Matsuo Bashō
Johannes is a social worker in Vienna serving primarily Afghan refugees caught in Europe's migrant crisis. We asked where else he's traveled ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to knit the world one stitch closer together. Circles-cafe.com comes up in this conversation too—if you're ever in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala go have a drink in the only coffee shop I know where coffee trees grow inside the shop! "When strangers on journeys and people far removed from their friends and companions enter a well-known place and famous site, it is their habit to leave behind a record of their presence in order to seek blessing in the prayers of other strangers, travelers, and people bereft of their kith and kin. I want to join in, so get me a pot of ink." —Caliph al-Ma'mūn
Calum is a driver for Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. We begged him to reveal what famous people he's chauffeured, even though he said he never would divulge anyone's secret ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Gleneagles.com. And check out Kiva.org to lend a small amount that can make a big difference—knit the world one stitch closer together. "Neither in your conversation be without method, nor in life be so busy as to have no leisure." —Marcus Aurelius
Sergio walked the 800 kilometers from Sevilla to Marrakesh in 17 days. We asked why such a good madness came over him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Pachilofeos.es, the mountaineering club that inspired Sergio's journey. Check out Kiva.org to make a small business loan to someone in another country. "Following a road from beginning to end is particularly satisfying both in literature and in life." —Italo Calvino
Ram, along with his wife Janhavi and daughter Sharayu, stood in line with us to get into Vatican City. While waiting, we asked if they would tell us their best travel story ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Visit Kiva.org to knit the world one stitch closer together. "A novelist could never imagine possibilities such as real life offers every day by the thousand in the guise of the most ordinary things." —Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Manfredi lost his way in Barcelona. We asked how he got back to where he was going ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to knit the world one stitch closer. "Not all those who wander are lost." —J.R.R. Tolkien
Souka migrated from Cameroon to Italy and now sells watches next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We asked how he got there ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to knit the world one stitch closer together. "And I have seen a ship run straight and swift across the sea for all its course, only to perish at last when entering the port." —Dante Alighieri
Freya got sick traveling alone. We asked whom she turned to ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to knit the world one stitch closer together. "Viajar es intentar cambiar." —Gabriel García Márquez
Kai embraced solo travel wholeheartedly when his wife betrayed him. We asked whether it made any difference ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org and knit the world one stitch closer together. "Many tasks give themselves better to the cool of night." —Virgil
Gordon's Iranian father-in-law summoned him from the UK in 1986. We asked what awaited him there ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Gordon's music too on Soundcloud. And his furniture shop in Edinburgh, Retro Morrison Street. "Every experience is a moving force." —John Dewey
Ann-Sophie's friend Flore planned all the details of their trip to Spain without revealing any of them. We asked what happened when they got there ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to lend to someone on the other side of the world. "I jotted down these notes with the hope that they might provoke pleasant conversation among my readers and that they might be of some use to those who would travel the same way." —Matsuo Bashō
Lucas' father always taught him that "to be someone in life" ("ser alguem na vida") he needed to make a lot of money, but Holland changed him. We asked how ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out AIESEC.org which also played a role in his transformation. Lend to a business in Burma on Kiva.org. "With a little more deliberation in the choice of their pursuits, all [people] would perhaps become essentially students and observers, for certainly their nature and destiny are interesting to all alike." —Henry David Thoreau
Steve is a falconer. We asked him how ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out Kiva.org to bring greater connection to the world. "Of course, nothing can possibly be really meaningless." —H.L. Hawkins
It's Holy Week, Semana Santa, in Sevilla. Everyone is celebrating by walking through the streets. We set out to find Jesus and ask him why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Check out our website at sephvoigts.squarespace.com/theobservereffect to see more. "Ask and the answer will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." —Jesus
Faustino does not like Tunisia. We asked him why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician who provided our opening and closing, Dana Boulé. Check out www.kiva.org and our website sephvoigts.squarespace.com/theobservereffect. "In fact, just as there is an art of storytelling, strictly codified through a thousand trials and errors, so there is also an art of listening, equally ancient and noble, but as far as I know, it has never been given any norm." —Primo Levi
Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they always sound fascinating ... Ophirah has twice gone to England to see her heroes' homes. We asked her why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician who provided our opening and closing, Dana Boulé. Visit http://www.torchcoffee.com. "If I let myself really understand another person, I might be changed by that understanding." —Carl Rogers
Whether travel stories spring from joy or sorrow, result in change or status quo, they always teach us something ... Moonif found it easier to smile than to not when he moved to America. We asked him why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician who provided our opening and closing, Dana Boulé. Check out World Relief→ "Hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest." —Parker Palmer
Will, a student of flamenco, contrasts his time in Spain with his previous life in Australia and tells a great story about Vietnam. Special thanks to Dana Boulé for sharing her wonderful music with us. Check out Kiva.
Our new podcast will launch in March, but here are a few of the first bits of conversation we've collected: Ophirah has made not one but two pilgrimages to Liverpool. Nigel took his son to Ghana to teach him the meaning of wealth. Syrian refugees recount their escape.