I wanted to write about the "cult" of yoga. I had planned to tell you about the commercialization of yoga. I've studied for 9 years, this isn't an outsider looking in, this account is coming from a member of the community.
That is what I wanted to write. I can't.
Read MoreI've never been to Austin, but when I do, it better be fucking awesome. There better be bacon growing on trees, Reese's peanut butter cups better fall from the skies, and craft beer better flow from water fountains.
Read MoreYou know that scene in the movies...or better, soap operas...when the patient wakes up on the operating table, blurred vision clears up to nurses and doctors hovering over them? That's Detroit right now. Years after traumatic injuries and a medically induced coma, surgery has begun....and the city is waking up. I'm not gonna lie to you. It's pretty ugly. Like major deformities, a lost limb or two. It's gonna take some major rehab and some serious plastic surgery to fix this city. Detroit is the hot chick in high school who later in life got in a real bad car accident. She's tough to look at, but you can't stop staring. You're almost looking to see that magic in her once again.
Read MoreDetroit is a living museum.
It's the Smithsonian mashed up with one of the best graffiti and mural exhibitions in the world. On display, relics of American history (home of the Ford Model T, Motown Records, Joe Louis, and more) all juxtaposed with the modern street art movement. It's a perverse, but positive, symbiotic relationship.
Read MoreChicago is the half-ignored house plant the owner waters when they can...that they've put too close to the window, overexposing some leaves to the harsh sun. While maintaining an extensive root system, and sturdy stem, once vibrant and healthy branches have turned brown and begun to severely sag. The plant is not dead, quite the opposite, new shoots sprout out and away from the harsh rays, sucking up nutrients and water once directed towards their older counterparts. It's a city that encompasses the totality of life, and nature, in all it's cycles. That's what so real and raw about it. Try you're best, but you can not ignore the mold and decay, even from your air conditioned SUV as you pass over the I-90 Expressway.
Read MoreYou know what's cool about poverty and drug addiction? Nothing. You know what I appreciated about the communities I saw in Louisville affected by both? No color lines. Black and white, sharing stoops. It was striking.
Read MoreThe sun sets over Wauhatchie Pike, it's kind of a shitty sunset. Clouds from the West are billowing up like a smoke stack, muting out the sun. Fitting really, in 1969 at its industrial worst, Chattanooga had the highest air pollution in the country. In earnest though, deep oranges and hints of red fight their way around the clouds, determined to give a show. To the South, trees roll over the border into Georgia. To the North, the Tennessee River scurries around sheer cliffs and mountains. Lookout Valley is the winner from this vantage. It looks like a giant foam pit....a gradient of greens....the kid in me wants to take a running leap off into it. But I'm no kid, I feel my mortality, and keep my distance from the edge of Sunset Rock as winds gust over the peaks.
Read MoreI've been camping on N. Hull St for two days, next to a predominantly black affordable housing complex, on what some would consider the edge of Downtown Athens. It looks more like an old folks home, with retirees buzzing around on Rascal scooters. There's been some odd looks, but more "howdys". One resident even inquired about buying my camper, telling me to come back when I was ready to sell it. I said alright.
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