Photo of the Day (5.2.09)

by Brenda Yun on


I’m a vegetarian, so the sight of these chickens in the window elicited a very strong gurgle from my stomach. Before college, however, I was a meat-eater. I didn’t have my first salad until I was 18. My parents would frequent Chinatown, and I would gawk at the meat in the window in a similar fashion as I am now.

I love Peking duck. I miss the taste of crispy skin with that tangy sauce on a steamed rice bun. When I lived in Beijing one summer during college, I would have Peking duck every weekend. That was the real deal. I miss fresh Chinese meat.

This appetizing (to some) photo comes to us from jerry.r.lem. The steam in this Bostonian Chinatown store window, the triad of colors, and the obscure meat on the right just makes me want to take a stroll in my neighborhood Chinatown and remember the good ‘ole days, when Mom would buy bok choi for less than a dollar, Dad would treat us to dim sum, or I could watch rice noodles being made through the Look Fun window.

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

Travel Read: Step Back from the Baggage Claim and book giveaway

by Jamie Rhein on

To win a signed copy of Step Back from the Baggage Claim, follow the directions at the end of the post.

For Jason Barger, an airport is not only a place where people depart and arrive on airplanes in their quests to get from one location to another. Airports are a metaphor about life. In his book, Step Back from the Baggage Claim, a slim volume that is a perfect size for slipping into a carry-on, Barger does a tidy job of illustrating how we might make the world a nicer place by starting at the airport. Airplane behavior is included in the mix of what can make or break us as a society.

To test out his theory about the power of air travel and airports, Barger hatched out a plane to travel to seven cities in seven days with the goal of never leaving any of the airports. Along the way, he’d be the observer, testing out his ideas. He figured that in in the midst of airport activity he’d find people from different backgrounds, cultures and ages–all going to or coming from somewhere for a variety of reasons. In the process of their arrivals and departures, Barger theorized there would be behaviors that would illustrate each person’s version of the world.

The result was he logged 6,548 miles, 10,000 minutes, 26 hours and 45 minutes of sleep, and a whole lot of writing fodder to condense into palpable bites. Throughout the book–which I’ve read twice, Barger weaves in details about his life that prompted this undertaking.

Barger is is a guy who notices things. Like when the ding goes off on an airplane to signal that retrieving bags from the overhead bins is a-okay, who leaps up, who stays put and who helps others? It’s not just about what other people do, but what do we do?

At a baggage claim, who lets the older person struggle, and who offers a hand? In Barger’s world, wouldn’t it be a lot easier for everyone if we all just took a few steps back from the conveyor belt and worked together? He saw that system work with a group of adolescents he traveled with. Instead of each elbowing his or her way to the circling bags, those in the front, passed bags back making the task easier for everybody.

Even though the book is a missive in a way of doing better, but Barger also looks at the circumstances that creates a situation where we might not try harder. Frustration is a big one. (I have to put in a plug for stupidity.)

Seriously, haven’t you wanted to lob a shoe at someone while you’ve been stuck at an airport? I have. But, there is always the high road option of flowing more easily with a smile, no matter our circumstances. Barger saw the pinnacle of great decorum, for example, when one woman’s neatly packed carry-on was rummaged through by TSA as part of a random check and her belongs left in a pile for her to repack. Instead of fuming and fussing, she remained pleasant, repacked and dashed off to catch a flight–still buoyant.

Even if you want to remain a crab when you travel, Step Back from the Baggage Claim offers a glimpse of the various airports where Barger headed, and what it’s like to hang out in them for extended periods of time. After reading Barger’s book, I don’t think I’ll be throwing elbows anymore as I haul my own bag out of the mix of belongings that are circling by. (Actually, I don’t think I ever have thrown an elbow. Maybe growled, but nothing more.)

Oh, yeah. Where did Barger go? He started in Columbus to Boston to Miami to Chicago to Minneapolis to Seattle to San Diego and back to Columbus.

Here’s one of Barger’s thoughts to take with you when you travel. It might help you have a much better day.

“I’m going to embrace the quiet moments an airplane seat offers us. When the ding sends most into a frenzy, I am going to sit still.”

To read more about Barger and the book, here’s an article that was published in the business section of The New York Times.

To win a copy of the book Step Back from the Baggage Claim:

Leave a short comment about an act of kindness you witnessed while traveling. Maybe it was your act of kindness–or someone else’s. Even the smallest act counts. The winner will be randomly picked.

  • The comment must be left before Friday, May 1st at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
  • The winner will receive a signed copy of the paperback book Step Back From the Baggage Claim, (valued at $14.95)
  • Click here for complete Official Rules.
  • Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, including the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.

    • Brook Silva-Braga, One Day in Africa and the film festival circuit

    by Jamie Rhein on

    This is season of film festivals. Brook Silva-Braga and his movie “One Day in Africa” drew me to the Cleveland International Film Festival a week ago Saturday. It was the premiere weekend of his film and I didn’t want to miss it. Plus, Brook was going to be there. Ever since his guest blogger run at Gadling, I’ve been keeping up with his travels and wanted to meet the guy behind such interesting work.

    I was able to catch up with Brook at the film’s second viewing at 9:20 a.m. Even with the early time slot, the theater was full, the audience alert and Brook an engaging story teller. After the film, he fielded questions from the audience and stuck around later for further conversation.

    The movie pulled me back to places in West Africa where I’ve traveled myself, and throughout I kept thinking–oh, I recognize that. I remember.

    The first details I noticed were the sounds. The thwacking of the wooden mortar and pestle, the swoosh swooshing of a broom across a carpet, grain rubbing against each other in a calabash as women’s fingers sort though to pick out small pebbles and chafe, a farming tool turning over dirt in a field, and the children’s voices.

    For a region of the world Brook had never been to before, he intuited the specifics of the cadence of the people in each country. Interestingly, although six countries were represented, if he had gone to The Gambia, he would have found people with similar stories. What’s striking about these stories is how they illustrate how access to education and services have such an influence over people’s lives.

    Access to a clinic for child birth and the differences between how men relate to their wives are shown along with how each person views his or her own opportunites–or lack of. In The Gambia there are people who also struggle to acquire water and coax crops out of dry land and others who are hooked into services and have found economic success in the world economy.

    Because Brook found his subjects in different African countries, the result is that there’s a notion that the continent does have factors that unify the people despite the differences in ethnic groups, politics, religion and geography.

    During the question and answer period, Brook told about the choices he made as a film maker and the serendipity that hooked him up with his subjects. When he crossed over into Morocco to start filming, he had a loose plan, but was not sure what or whom he would find. The result is that as he found out more about each of the people he chose as subjects, so did the audience.

    In the mix f the six people’s stories are the hard to answer questions about sustainable development, women’s and men’s roles in society, the disparity of educational opportunities, the consequences of political strife, how religion can influence world views, and the role of western culture in Africa. There are the underlying issues of changes need to be made–if any.

    Even though it’s been more than a week since I saw the movie, I find myself thinking about the people whose stories Brook captured so well, and I can still hear the sounds of grain, the earth and their voices.

    There are more opportunities to catch One Day in Africa. Here are two of them this month.

    Boston International Film Festival on April 18 at 8:30 p.m. AMC/LOEWS
    theater, Boston Common: 175 Tremont St. There is another short film showing at 8:00 as part of the same session.

    Newport Beach Film Festival at Newport Beach, Calfornia on April 29 at 1:30

    Two dogs on a 2,000 mile walk from Austin to Boston

    by Jamie Rhein on

    Murphy and Hudson have been walking towards Boston from Austin, Texas for a year so far. Not by themselves. They’re bringing Luke Robinson along with them. The walk was Luke’s idea after another dog pal, Malcolm died of bone cancer.

    Robinson decided to sell his truck, put his worldly goods in storage and hit the road with Murphy and Hudson, two Great Pyrenees at his side. The idea of the walk from Austin to Boston is to raise awareness about canine cancer. As they have walked, Hudson, Murphy and Robinson have visited veterinarian oncologists along the way to find out more about the disease that is often similar to the type of cancer humans get.

    In this article I found in the Williamson Herald, Robinson said Murphy and Hudson are the ones who are walking him. Both dogs are sporting backpacks that hold their snacks while Robinson carries the heavy stuff. As the trio travels, they have been stopping at animal shelters to volunteer their services and at special events to draw attention to and help raise money for animal care.

    The walk has provided an opportunity to experience the U.S. with a different view. Robinson recalls, for example, mosquitoes as “‘big as sparrows'” when they made their way through the Arkansas Delta last summer.

    People can follow their route at the 2 dogs, 2000 miles website. Robinson is rallying people to join in the cause to help cure cancer in dogs, but also is happy to visit with folks who want to meet Murphy and Hudson in person.

    According to their blog, Robinson and the boys are in Ohio will be at the Harcourt Veterinary Clinic in Mt. Vernon, Ohio this Saturday, and at the Wolf Run Bark Park on Sunday. The blog is updated regularly with details about their next event stops. From what I can tell, the trip is happening as it unfolds. There is room to meander as people offer support.

    TSA workers at Logan Airport treated for scabies

    by Jamie Rhein on

    I feel for those three TSA workers who were found to have scabies. I just read about them in this article at WBZ. Each of them worked during the same shift at the same check point at Logan Airport in Boston.

    It is not clear how they got scabies. TSA officials have said that because the TSA workers wear gloves, the public has nothing to worry about. The workers are on medical leave until they have been told by a doctor that it’s okay for them to return to work.

    To prevent the spread of scabies to the rest of the TSA workers at Logan, all of them were told to take all their clothes and uniforms home to wash them. The areas at the airport that could have been infected were also thoroughly cleaned.

    Here’s a health refresher course. Scabies is caused by a microscopic scabies parasite that burrows under the skin, creating a blister that gets patchy, red and itches something fierce. It’s kind of gross really. I’ve had it. Like the TSA folks, I have no idea how I got it, but one day, there was a small patch of it above my upper lip when I was living in The Gambia. A friend of mine who was ONLY A FRIEND had a case much worse than I did under his beard. It must have been going around. In The Gambia, I seem to remember it being much more common during the dry season.

    Scabies can be caught by: scratching, picking up mites under fingernails, touching another person’s skin, and touching anything that might be infected with mites because someone with scabies touched them. Think keyboards, toilets, clothes, towels, workout equipment etc. Luckily mites don’t live off of a body for longer than 72 hours. [Wikipedia]

    Scabies is curable through the use of a prescription topical cream. It didn’t take me long to be as right as rain again.