How A Year of Wandering Changed My Life

Announcing a new series of stories from my adventures in Central America

Ready for adventure (1993)

The early 1990s: the world still grappled with the aftershocks of the Cold War. Civil conflicts lingered in Central America like mist over the Guatemalan highlands, NAFTA negotiations were underway, and the improbable and inevitable Zapatista uprising was just months away. The internet was nascent; fax machines still reigned supreme. Climate change was not yet a common concern; instead, we worried about skin cancer from holes in the ozone layer, acid rain, and AIDS.

Recently, I've been reflecting on memory, perhaps spurred by my daughter's college graduation and my own reckoning with mortality. Or perhaps I'm simply revisiting cherished stories.

My year of wandering was made possible by the kindness of a woman named Ann Pierson (we’ll meet her later) and the generosity of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Generously funded and dangerously unrestricted, the "Watson" would profoundly shape me, and nearly cost me my life.

Armed with a rucksack, a Sony Walkman, travelers checks, and faltering Spanish, I set out to study Guatemalan refugees in Chiapas, Mexico. But life, as it often does, had other plans.

This series, to be published over the coming months, chronicles my experiences growing up, stumbling, and awakening far from home in a world that felt much larger than it does today. It explores the complexities of trying to do good where one may not be needed or wanted. It’s a story of youth, loneliness, failure, and transformation.

Paid subscribers will receive early access, photos, and excerpts from my travel notebooks. I hope you find this series honest, engaging, and worthwhile.

The first installment is coming soon!