Clyde's, Chevy Chase: Overheard watching the World Cup....

German fan: Go Mexico!
Bartender: Why are you cheering for Mexico? Oh, yeah, a German cheering for Argentina might look a bit suspicious.

Denver, Colorado: An Omni-Partisan T-Shirt...

That's what the Nations of Nations project is - the product of three former college classmates representing liberal, conservative and independent. Oddly, over the years, we've never fallen into the "you tree-groping, latte-swilling elitist!" "you NASCAR-worshipping, Faulknerian idiot!" crossfire one might expect.

Maybe because most of the issues we talk about are universal concerns - health care, education, the role and image of America abroad, etc. And it's enlightening to hear other sides, even if you respectfully disagree. Same with immigration. How do we determine who gets in? How can we make it quicker and easier for those we do let in?

"Why should we send George Clooney a comp t-shirt?"

"Because it will look damn fine on him, that's why."

A Walkable City: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!

Last month I did what I should have done 2 years ago...sold my dented, clunking beast of a vehicle and went to Zipcar.

I'd held out for a long time - in my Midwest homeland there's a stigma attached to being without an automobile. (Ever notice in the post-Katrina coverage how "poor" and "car-less" often fell in the same sentence?)

But I live by the Metro, work by the Metro, and city driving generally drives me to weep, drink or both. And the advantages are legion:
1. XM Radio - never ever having to endure Nickelback again. Priceless.
2. Every car is new - and the one I drive most frequently even smells new
3. I feel mildly virtuous after seeing "The Inconvenient Truth." The earth may be going to hell, but I'm now part of the solution. Yeah. Kiss my Birkenstocks, man.
4. Never again will I purchase something for $13K and sell it for less than $1K.
5. Never again will I suffer the byzantine bureaucracy of Montgomery County DMV (though the mobile DMV van that stops by Friendship Heights IS pretty cool)

Maryland/Dakar: Friends with boats...
That's the beauty of finally living by the ocean. Every summer I vow that I'll drive up to Annapolis to either take sailing lessons or latch onto a group of wealthy schooner-owning bon vivants. (There's always the Potomac, but who knows what you'll float up against there - Jimmy Hoffa, overstock from Bob's Bargain Organ Trafficking, detritus from a Georgetown keg party...)

As evidenced by an absence of funnel cake, NC-17-rated t-shirts and high school graduation parties, the photo above was not taken in Ocean City. To read more about Yoff Beach, see the May 2006 archives.

More out of Africa

Denver, Colorado: Coming soon...
Provoke conversation while wearing an original work of art.
Stay tuned at the Nation of Nations blog (link to the right) for details.

Washington/Senegal: GOOOAAAALLL!!!!

This month, grab a clown wig, a brew and a seat at a comfy pub for the World Cup. Cute boys on the field and off! The Washington Post offers helpful work-evasion locales.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/01/AR2006060100676.html

Where did this photo come from? Why is that guy in the foreground reading a book? Just another soccer match in Africa.

More out of Africa