Blog
There’s treasure in them hills
This week, I spent several days traipsing around the old ghost towns of the San Juan Mountains. My assignment was to document a small, hardy band of devoted people who are almost singlehandedly preserving the old mining heritage of these mountains. Some of the nation's first mills, mines, trams, boarding houses, and prospectors' town sites lie right in the line of fire in terms of both weather and tourists. (It's not uncommon to see people rifling through 100-year-old houses for artifacts and even tearing off old boards to keep as souvenirs.)…
Yoga, hula hooping, and just plain old feeling good
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Snowmass, Colorado for a seriously adventurous assignment: the Wanderlust Festival. A four-day celebration of yoga, fitness classes, outdoor sports, and various stripes of New Agey spiritualism, it was an explosion of almost aggressive positivity. Admittedly, I was a little skeptical of the festival's self-helpy tagline "Find your true north." But I vowed to try everything I could, from hula hooping and capoeira to a palm reading and Ted-like lectures. In the end, I not only survived, I learned a few things.…
There’s a lot to be happy about, you know!
The other day, I was taking a clear-my-mind walk around my office building when a fresh-faced 20-something dude on a bike came cruising by on the sidewalk and yelled “There’s a lot to be happy about, you know!” I’m not sure if he was just so exuberant that he had to share his explosion of joy or if he was admonishing me for looking morose. Either way, I laughed. I happen to be going through a rather happy time in my life, and that particular moment…