‘They Will Have To Kill Us First’ doc shows Malian music can’t be stopped

Posted on by March 5, 2016

Music was as essential as air for those living in the west African country of Mali. Then the Islamist militants flooded in and banned music, choking off an integral part of Mali’s culture.

Instruments were burned, radio stations were ripped apart and musicians were tortured. The feature-length documentary, “They Will Have to Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile” shows what life was like when jihadists tried to stop the music. It opens this weekend in New York at the Village East Cinema … Read more ...

MLK Day: A perfect day to examine our “isms” racism, sexism, genderism

Posted on by January 19, 2016

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is usually a day where we look back on the life of a vaunted man, one who had dreams of multicultural harmony in the land of the red, white and blue.

But looking back, how far has the U.S. really come in its race relations? Yes, there’s clearly been huge strides. We have a black president, the number of African Americans graduating from high school and college is growing and so is the black middle class. But what about the … Read more ...

My life in Norway’s winter wonderland

Posted on by January 12, 2016

This weekend my part of Norway was socked with snow, and it’s been like walking around in a snow globe.

We got nearly a foot of snow in about 24 hours and it was cool to see how the Norwegians took it all in stride. But hey, this is Norway, what’d I expect? When I lived in Portland, Oregon we got a dusting of snow and the city shut down.

I put a toy car on our porch so you guys can see how much it snowed.

I put a toy car on our porch so you guys can see how much

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Our holiday season in Norway: Cured meats and fireworks

Posted on by January 6, 2016

Happy 2016! We are now on the other side of the holiday season and it kinda feels good to be back in the swing of things. Though it wasn’t our first Christmas in Norway, it’s the first one that we’ve had since moving here.

Many of you have asked me what Christmas is like in Norway, so here’s the skinny:

Celebrating the First Day of Christmas.

For our First Day of Christmas celebration we welcomed a fellow expat and our good friend, Lauren. Ignore my 8 year old, he’s going through

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