nomorewars's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 19,149 | The World Is My Village by nomorewars - last update: Oct 25, 2009 |
NOMOREWARS: The Global Nomad | The Gracie Barra Texas Family |
If Opportunity Doesn't Knock....
Then Build a Door!
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but actually grew up in a smaller city, roughly 20 miles northwest of the Massachusetts capital, by the name of Lowell – a city pretty much situated on the Massachusetts – New Hampshire stateline. It would be here in Lowell, amongst the shadows of the city’s great mill complexes, during the crippling economic times of the 1980s –in which criminal street gangs, drugs, & crime added to the city’s downfall – where I would develop my sense of passion for all that encompasses me today: literature, travel, socialist activism, labor, & music.
By birth I am a Roman Catholic; but, due to the being exposed to the harsh realities of life at a very young age, I have come to loathe religion with the fierce hatred of a million warring men: it has been a source of so much death & destruction on our planet. I discarded Catholicism – as well as all religion –many moons ago, as I firmly believe it is a farce & the root of much evil. If our world were to become free of this wretched disease & all of its dogmas, many of the world’s conflicts would cease to exist.
Even though I despise religion, I am, however, down with the King. Due to my stance on religion, I am often incorrectly labeled as an atheist or agnostic – but this could not be so far from the truth. Religion is not synonymous with God; it’s a creation of man, a fable, used to justify his greed, lust, & ill behavior.
I am a radical at heart, though my involvement in left – wing politics has been dwindling down: Is this because of aging? I don’t know. The passion still burns deep down inside, but I have switched gears – from an activists to an educator – in a gesture of passing the torch – if you will – to a younger generation: my children.
I have traveled throughout the course of my life with an additional label: dreamer. Though it was bestowed upon me in an adversarial manner, I never found this label to be something negative. Yes, I dream. We all dream. I dream of a world minus its borders, its hate, its destruction, & its poverty – dreaming is not a hindrance; it’s a pathway to progression. Without the dreams of people like Albert Parsons, August Spies, & Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our societies would still be mired in the muds of our horrible past. “Change,” the great Simone de Beauvoir once stressed, “can only evolve upon the foundation of a person’s dream.” |
|  | Here's A Little Bit More About Me Ever since I had the mental capacity to formulate an idea, I have been entrenched in the complexities of current affairs & global issues – especially those pertaining to humanity, foreign relations, & politics. As a result, I have always possessed an insatiable desire to travel – even though I haven’t always possessed the means to do so. As a youth, my travels were centered around places within walking distance or a short bus ride, neighboring communities, or any other place in which someone else was covering the costs.
I believe that the true treasure of every nation is its people. Without the ingenuity & vision of people, we would not have such structures as the Eiffel Tower luring us beyond our thrones of comfort. Whether it’s in my own country or somewhere else abroad, I like to experience the culture & people of my host nation – or U.S. state. I am not entertained by amusement parks, malls, etc. I want to experience the mysterious, the rare, & the unknown.
I am also a nature lover, possessing great admiration for the outdoors. Much of my current time is spent roaming around the woods, swamps, & mountains of America’s national & state parks. My wife & children share this same passion, so we can often be found hiking, kayaking, or biking somewhere. If you find yourself visiting the Houston area anytime soon or are a local resident, be on the lookout for us...we love the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center.
I spent a spell in the U.S. Army, as an MP, & was deployed to various hotspots around the globe: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, etc. In addition to this, I lived in the United States during the height of the “Freedom Fries” pandemic, just after 9/11. With all of these experiences under my belt, I have come to completely despise nationalism – finding it to be a virus which attacks & destroys one’s ethics, principles, & morals. Furthermore, I do not understand or tolerate the concept of patriotism, as I do not comprehend how a person can feel pride for a nation which falsely wages war, refuses to care for its sick free-of-charge, or adequately fund public education for its young. The pride I feel doesn’t stem from my nationality, but from the role I play as a father – for I feel that there’s no other job that bears more importance, in our world & all of its societies, than parenthood.
Well this is me in a nutshell. I do not identify myself with any one particular race of people, nation, or religion. I am much more than all that – I am a father, a husband, an idealist – I am a citizen of humanity, a global nomad.” |
What's New? Updates And/Or Additions
1. Big Thicket National Preserve: Towards the end of September, my family and I made a daytrip to the Big Thicket National Preserve, located in East Texas, just a couple of hours east of Houston. We spent the day hiking, taking refuge in the serenity provided by this great, wooded paradise. You can check our trip out in my Texas "Things to Do" tips.
2. Enchanted Rock Natural Area: Our trip to Enchanted Rock had to be delayed due to the oppressive Texas heat -- as hiking in Texas during the warmer months can prove to be deadly. Thanks to the America's recognition of Christoper Columbus's birthday as a federal holiday, my family and I were able to enjoy a three-day weekend exploring some state parks. You can check out our excursion to Enchanted Rock here.
3. The Frontier Outpost : Upon our return to Fredericksburg from Enchanted Rock, we stopped at this little covenience store for some drinks and snacks -- a little something to hold us over until we could find a restaurant for lunch. Check out my impressions of this little place we found out in the middle of nowhere.
4. Robert Frost's San Antonio: We spent a recent weekend exploring San Antonio's literary history, in depth, concentrating our efforts on this particulr occassion on Robert Frost; follow up visits will focus around Oscar Wilde, Sidney Lanier, and others. Sadly, we were only able to take pictures of two Robert Frost landmarks as all the others were under construction and would have been poor pictures. You can read about our Robert Frost adventure here.
5. Sidney Lanier: Sidney Lanier, another one of America's wonderful poets, once took up shop in San Antonio in order to battle tuberculosis. Sidney was amazed by the city's cultural diversity and historical landmarks and often wrote about them. You can check out a little bit of what I was able to dig up about Sidney's stay in San Antonio by checking out my tip on the
Mission Concepcion.
6. Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary: The family and I enjoyed a recent daytrip to this Nature Center, located in West Houston, where we spent an entire afternoon hiking, bird watching, and chasing one another. You can read about our outing here, in my city of Houston Off The Beaten Path tips. | | | UFC Fighter Alberto Crane & I |
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| Hanging out with Mother Nature |
| | Pending Travels
What's Going On In The Month of September?
1. September 4, 2009 - September 6, 2009: Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I've been blessed with another day off, a federal holiday, and I'm going to celebrate it with my family in Baton Rouge, where we intend to eat a lot of seafood, lounge at our hotel's pool, and do nothing else.
2. September 18, 2009 - September 20, 2009: Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas. We've recently purchased a rather large, four-man tent and will use it during this span.
3. September 25, 2009 - September 26, 2009: Enchanted Rock, Texas. We missed Enchanted Rock during our last excursion into the Texas Hill Country. This time, however, we're going to hike up the rock.
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VT Pages I'm Doing Over Germany: 1). Baumholder, 2). Idar Obserstein, 3). Wiesbaden, 4). Darmstadt, 5). Kaiserslautern, 6). Trier, 7). Berlin, 8). Mainz, 9). Saarbrucken, 10). Saar Louis, 11). St. Wendell, 12). Bonn, 13). Cologne, 14). Munich.
France: 1). Paris, 2). Metz, 3). Royan.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: 1). Sarajevo, 2). Mostar, 3). Bihac.
Croatia: 1). Makarska, 2). Split, 3). Dubrovnik.
Macedonia: 1). Skopje.
Austria: 1). Vienna.
Switzerland: 1). Zurich.
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: 1). Luxembourg City.
Belgium: 1). Brussells. | | | Seeing the world like a little critter |
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| The newest member of the Gracie Barra family |
| | Places I Want to Go Before I Die! Iran For as long as I can remember Iran has always been a place of great personal interest. During my thirty-two years of life, I have met numerous wonderful, artistic, & intelligent Iranians who have, inadvertently, kept the firing burning. I am very interested in the life of Ashraf Dehghani & would love nothing more than to retrace her footsteps in Iran.
Bolivia I want to travel the "Ruta del Che" & learn more about Che Guevara's mission in Bolivia.
Japan Japan is the birthplace of one of my favorite martial arts disciplines: Judo. It has always been a dream of mine to train with one of the world's greatest Judoka's, Hidehiko Yoshida.
Russia I am absolutely fascinated with labor history. Russian history is riddled with labor strikes, protests, & battles-all of which I want to become better familiar with.
Eritrea Although I have never stepped on Eritrean soil, & only know of its beauty through pictures, I am nevertheless captivated by its stunning landscape, ancient civilizations, dramatic contrasts, & unique wildlife. Furthermore, Eritrea is the youngest nation on the African continent, but with a history as old as humanity. |
For The Love of Literature When I was young and completely discontented, raging a war against poverty, against being a member of the lower class, against being the son of an unskilled worker, against the enemy state of domestic violence which occupied the core of my home, it was only in the pages of the world’s literary classics where I was able to find comfort, serenity, and escape from all the dismay that plagued me – the Pollard Memorial Library was my refuge. I can honestly say with a great deal of confidence and conviction, regardless to how farfetched or embellished it may seem, the Pollard Memorial Library introduced me to the world of literature, expanded my horizon, and in the process – as if there could be any doubt – saved me from an inevitable doom.
Personally speaking, literature has always been a medium of communication which, examining it beyond the simple enjoyment that it evokes, enables us, as disciples of creativity, to raze all the barriers that divide men – specifically those pertaining to caste, color, and gender: through its topics of discussion we realize literature is a vast history of the world.
Literature has also wielded an inexplicable ability – a supernatural power – to cause the foundations of society to tremble, shatter, and re-mold. The global response to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is an excellent example of how one single book can inspire a whole nation (the U.S.) to revolt and incite societal change.
Literature is nourishment for the human heart, mind, and soul: it enriches our lives. Those of us who dismiss its relevance, find it to be a bore, an obstruction, fails to understand life.
Some of My Favorite Authors
1. Jack London
2. Upton Sinclair
3. Leo Tolstoy
4. Thomas Mann
5. Joseph Conrad
6. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
7. Honoré de Balzac
8. Khalil Gibran
9. Jack Kerouac
10. Alexander Pushkin
11. Johan Wolfgang von Goethe
12. Iraj Pezeshkzad
13. Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh
14. Bozorg Alavi
15. Julio Cortazar
Some of My Favorite Libraries
1. Pollard Memorial Library in Lowell, Massachusetts
2. Boston Public Library in Boston, Massachusetts
3. Luxembourg National Library in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
4. Richland County Public Library in Columbia, South Carolina
5. German National Library in Leipzig, Germany
6. Sarajevo Library in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
7. Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, France
8. Houston Public Library in Houston, Texas
9. Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal, Quebec, Canada | | |
 Comments for nomorewars | | | | |
kokoryko Mon Nov 2, 2009 21:28 UTC
Late thanks for your wishes Michael; I had a good time; my birthday was one week long. . . . | mvtouring Wed Oct 21, 2009 14:06 UTC
Just uploaded many tips about my recent trip to Turkey. Would appreciate if you could visit and rate me ;-) | hopang Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:59 UTC
Hi Michael, Thanks for visiting our Denmark travel page and thanks for your wonderful comments. We have been to Denmark at least seven times crossing from Malmö in Sweden. We still miss the city of Copenhagen very much. ~ho & pang | Nemorino Mon Oct 19, 2009 15:23 UTC
Hi Michael, thanks for having a look at some of my Berlin updates. I hope to go there again sometime soon, since both my sons are currently living there. |
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