About

I am a learner and lover of languages, not only spoken but gestured, gesticulated, sung, and danced.  I am an impulsive follower of my own mysterious fire, I am intuitive and introverted.  Yet, parachute me into a venue well outside my native land and culture, and I place myself at the heart of events and, as a sponge, soak up the odors and sounds and laughter and cries of the village square.  Don’t ask me to memorize and recite grammatical rules, but to absorb the inner pulse and logic of the uttered phrase.

You cannot learn about the Other unless you risk all and throw yourself at the mercy of the spirit and heart of the stranger.  The further you travel away from your home, the closer you are to your true Self.  I remember my grad student pal advising me, as I prepared to travel to Southeast Asia for the first time, “Don’t be disappointed if you look around (in Malaysia and Indonesia) and wonder: what’s so different about this?”

I have been retired from the world of banking and financial regulation for nearly seven years, and am pursuing my avocations of teaching and learning language.  As long as my mind and body will allow, I will periodically plunge into worlds outside my comfort zone.  But I relish returning to my humble home, to quietly allow the kaleidoscopic events and cacaphonous sounds filter through my soul.  I hope some of the words in this blog reflect the light that shines through people at home and in distant lands.