Trading stories as currency, ideas as goods.
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Travel Vignettes

"Portraits and Mirrors" - Rio de Janeiro

Rio deserved better than four entitled swim bros that can't handle their alcohol, or tell a lie. Brazil deserved better than 3 months of US media coverage solely focused on Zika, pollution, fear, corruption and crime. If you've ever wondered why the rest of the world dislikes Americans, this is why.

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Bradford BeardallComment
Rest In Power

I imagine you rippin' through the fucking spacetime continuum on a rocket powered custom '31 at 1.21 gigawatts(!!!) with a sweet babe by your side you call darlin', a cold Bud heavy and a ghetto blaster cranking Waylon, Marvin or Wu...those chunky vintage Versace shades, a dirty white tee, paint stained jeans and black ostrich boots.

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Bradford BeardallComment
Navegando el Futuro

Had a friend once tell me, I don't shower until I can smell my balls. I woke up this morning in Puerto Montt, it reeked like that, and three day old shellfish. It was a suffocating wake-me-up, so much so that I probably didn't need coffee, but I went anyway.

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The Next Closest Thing to Home - Rio de Janeiro

More than anything, Rio has taught me about myself.  It's invited me to dance freer, kiss deeper, smile wider, wear Brazilian speedos on the beach with zero fucks.....to be alive, present.  I know some of the dangers, but I trust this city.  This culture.  In that trust, I've been so vulnerable here, so awkward, and have received nothing but double beijos (kisses), laughter and daps.  At times, it's as if I was 8 years old again, I've felt that kind of freedom, ease, and adventure.  I wouldn't call Rio home, it's not, but it's the next closest thing.  Whatever that is.

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The Sea, Synchronicity, and Shit.

“Did you ever think when you grew up you’d be working with people’s shit”

I’ve been speaking three different languages for the past three days. My head’s about to explode. I don’t know how Europeans do it. How anybody does it. I never thought I’d say this, but I can’t wait to meet another American.

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Bradford BeardallComment
As The Light Lowers on Rio

The panorama is stunning, as the sun slides down “Dois Irmaos” mountain, it paints the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro in shades of muted apricot, flint, and lilac. Indeed, a “Cidade Maravilhosa”. After a sip of Heineken, I curse myself for not bringing my iPhone or DSLR, and then I quickly remember why.

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Bradford BeardallComment
"FORA" - The largest protest in Sao Paulo history.

On Sunday, March 13th, 2016, Brazilians marched, sang, and danced across the country in what became the largest anti-govermnet protest in their country's history.  Protestors struck out  against current president Dilma Rouseff, former president "Lula", and their leftist "Workers' Party (Partido dos Trablahadores "PT"), amidst mounting evidence of widespread corruption.  In Sao Paulo, protest numbers tipped 1.4 million, smashing the city's previous of mark of around 400k.  In total, an estimated 3 million Brazilians took to the streets, in what became a historic day.  Brazilian pride was visible, and support ranged from the youngest to the oldest generations.  Here's a small window into my afternoon spent on Avenida Paulista in Sao Paulo.

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Nitrous Circus

I know it as "hippy crack." First heard about it when a friend went to the Tibetan Freedom Festival in the summer of '98, took his first hit, and crumbled to the ground as he lost total control of his body. Classic.

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Bradford BeardallComment
The Oregon Coast

The Oregon coast is unmatched in the Great 48.  Sorry California.  The Redwoods in NorCal are actually the only thing that keep it in the conversation.  How the Oregon Tourism Commission hasn't attracted more tourists and residents to the area, and how anyone that's visited hasn't plastered it's glory over every social media outlet, is beyond me.  But I'm glad, and please don't.

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Bradford BeardallComment
Gig Posters - Portland, OR

Existing as a fascinating sub genre, gig poster or concert flyer art reveals a lot about a neighborhood or city.  On the east side of Portland, telephone poles are insulated with months, maybe years, worth of flyers.  They depict the diversity of this part of town, and demonstrate just how special, and weird this city is.  So enjoy Portland through it's gig posters.

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Bradford BeardallComment
The Green Rush. Denver, CO

Banana Kush, Durban Poison, Denver Confidential, Golden Goat.  Pot cookies, chocolates, gummy bears, and lollipops.  When you first smoked weed in high school, this is the Willy Wonka like world you dreamed about.  Welcome to Denver, Colorado.

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Bradford BeardallComment
Ferguson

I didn't plan to go to Ferguson, or consciously connect it to Memphis and Harlem on my road trip.  Some things just work out like that.  Honestly, I went back to Memphis for the barbecue.  Perhaps in the back of my mind, I've been looking to reconcile what we as a nation haven't.  That the racial divide in this country is real, omnipresent, and firmly entrenched into American society.  If that's true, there's fewer clear examples than St. Louis, Missouri.

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Memphis Rising

"I Am A Man!" was the rallying cry of black Memphis sanitation workers in 1968 during protests to fight for better wages and equal treatment.  47 years later, the statement sounds eerily similar to that of the modern "Black Lives Matter" movement.

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