Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
Not the usual podjournalism as I’m on the road. This time coming to you from the riverside in Verona, Italy. The sun is setting and I talk about a little history of the city and I get into voter turnout numbers following yesterday’s Dutch elections.
Next Stop: Ljubjana, Slovenia. But first, a few hours in Venice with Madge Weinstein.
The Voter Turnout Surveys That I Sort of Refer To
dutch Elections
My last night in Milano and one of those classic things that always happens to me happens to me. After wandering town all day long, and soaking in what my friend Alberto calls “typical Milanese environment”, ie: cloudy, rainy, busy, noisy; I made plans to meet my friend Sarolina’s parents in order to pick some stuff up to bring back to Amsterdam for her.
To my surprise and to Sara’s approval, her mom and dad not only wanted to say hello and drink tea.. the moment they greeted me in front of Café Zucca the mother says to me “marko… come to our house for dinner”. They seemed like charming people and knowing how great their daughter is, I happily agree.
So there I am, a Tuesday night in November, sitting in a VERY Italian parlour with wall-to-wall books, discussing the history of Portugal with her father.. in Italian somehow. As so often happens, the father was very surprised about how similar Italian is to Portuguese…. which means Italians need to spread the word… they have lots in common with the Iberian penninsula.
In the end, I had a fantastic meal, and great discussion about their travels and life, including the recounting of a journey through yugoslavia, soviet union, turkey, iran, iraq, jordan, and syria back in the 70’s.
“It was an amazing time, the father smiled, “we were so welcome there and you were free to travel everywhere. Not like today, now you can’t get far without being questioned and so much has been destroyed.”
Afterwards they insisted on driving me back to the vlog apartment. Which has gone from housing 6+ people to an oh-so-comfy 3. (I get my own huge bed tonight). Tomorrow we’re off to Verona, where star-crossed lovers used to kill themselves I think.
For those seeking importance in the world: I’ve been listening back and reading through the transcripts that were released, of the military tribunals for guantanamo prisoners.
Working on many things and yet… not doing enough, thats how I feel these days. Unemployed yet still going to work, it seems. Oh and I had a lovely visit from Max and Stacy of Karmabanque and even managed to take them out on the Red August despite the rain. Nothing funnier than as Im coming home, and it starts pouring rain – I simply open my umbrella, kick the engine into high gear, and wave to all the cozy party boats as I pass them with reckless abandon.
More importantly today I have a recommendation, as I do occasionally try and point ye my dear readers, to interesting things in this world.
My roomate has been thoroughly wrapped up in a BBC4 documentary that I’ve now become very interested in, entitled: A Brief History of Disbelief. In some ways it reminds us of The Power of Nightmares or the Century of the Self, together the two most important documentaries EVER… period.
The series looks at the history of atheism, nontheism, and belief in general. It makes use of several interesting philosophers, alive and dead. It also uses archeology and economics to put things into context in terms of when people believed what and why those beliefs changed.
Though there are several aspects I could point to and say — this is interesting. What really comes to mind while watching it is the still powerful role and influence of religion in this world, even after so much experience.. so many world events… that would make one assume religion would not be as powerful as it was “back then”.
Thats all… the rest is for you to go and watch. If you can’t find them on bittorent, I will post them on archive.org within the week.
Obviously Ive become obsessed with this Jersey shore forgotten city. The truth is there is a very important story there with lessons for the whole world regarding development, religion, and community. In this program I begin to tell the story of how it all started. This was my last recording during my recent visit to New Jersey and note that Im driving as I’m explaining things which makes it harder dammit.
Read a version of the history on the net
The book Im learning from is 4th of July, Asbury Park by: Daniel J. Wolff
