Many years ago, I spent several intense, fun summers in Morocco. Besides biking through the Atlas and hanging out at various beaches, I spent weeks roaming the Médina of Fès with my Fassi friends Mammoun and Mohammed. Samir at A View from Fès posted some great accounts – and wonderful pictures by Suzanna Clarke – [...]

For many citizens of Togo, this must be a bittersweet day. On April 27, 1960, the French administered UN Trusteeship and former French colony became an independent nation. But today also marks a year and a day since the ruling party, the RPT, declared victory in the so-called “election” of April 24, 2005. This rigged [...]

The Nicholas School at Duke had a great Earth Day Celebration. Matt and I manned the Piedmont Biofuels booth.

Ready for March Madness? This was a good weekend for TarHeel basketball – the boys beat the Boohoo-Devils in Cameron and the girls secured the ACC Championship! After last year’s championship men’s team scattered to the winds, coach Williams seems to have managed to put together a brand-new top-notch team. Looks like they are fast [...]

Congratulations to the Togolese soccer team for that coveted ticket to Germany next year! The other qualifiers from Africa are Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Tunisia. With the exception of Tunisia (1978, 1998, 2002), all African teams are newcomers to the World Cup, which leaves most of Africa’s soccer giants like Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon [...]

Today is Nelson Mandela’s 87th birthday. Happy birthday, Madiba!

Today is World Fair Trade Day and we spent a good part of the afternoon at One World Market in Durham, where Laura works. To celebrate, they offered refreshments and snacks, and they had Fair Trade quizzes and contests with prizes. The point of Fair Trade Day is to educate people and to “promot[e] fairer [...]

There are many things Europeans in the US complain about, especially these days: No local public transportation systems (outside NYC); no decent bread; no sidewalks; awful roads; houses made of sticks; etcetera. And I live in a state where the sale of beer with more than 6 percent alcohol is illegal, but the natives make [...]

The Tar Heels are National Champions!!!