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family life

Lives as They Unfold

I’m back in Chicago where I’ve been for a little over a week now. As most of you know, this is where I was born and grew up so I have lots of family and friends here. I’m getting to the age now where I’ve had a chance to see how lives that I’ve known […]

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family

Family

So difficult sometimes just being family. I don’t want to get into details here, because after all, it is family, but drawing the line between getting involved with helping family, versus taking care of oneself and drawing clear boundaries can be very difficult sometimes. Love is a powerful force, but when love slides into becoming […]

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family india on traveling thailand

Family Detours in Thailand

Sorry I haven’t written here in the past week. I had meant to, but life has a way of traveling it’s own direction despite our intentions and planning. I moved on from India to Thailand because I wanted to spend a little time with my father and his wife before heading back to the states. […]

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family poems & stories

Must Be Found Again in a New Whole

I’m back at my home now in California and I’ve been feeling very tired since my return. I think it is a combination of a few things: Jet lag and not sleeping enough this past week A little bug I picked up on the plane Travelers emotional exhaustion It’s the last item on the list […]

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family

Brother

I’m at my brother’s house about an hour outside of Chicago, in a place called Wonder Lake. I wasn’t planning on staying the night, but he asked me to so I did. That may not be a good enough reason for some, but for me it is. We’ve always been quite distant. Ever since he […]

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family home on traveling ukraine

Home, Homeland and the Heart

It’s quite powerful the pull that a land, a place can have on us, and how unabashedly quickly that can develop. When I left Ukraine by train a few weeks ago for a few days, 7 am departure towards Bulgaria, I was very strongly feeling the pull to stay, and the loss that comes from […]

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family Jewish ukraine

Khotyn – Cultural Longing and Identification

I returned again to Khotyn yesterday evening. I’m not exactly certain as to why, but perhaps that will unfold as I am here. The excuse I told myself in planning to come here was that I wanted to photograph more of the remaining Jewish people here in town. I’ve been itching to put together images […]

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family Jewish ukraine

Tomorrow to Babi Yar

Tomorrow, barring unforeseen emotional breakdowns or interventions, I am going to visit Babi Yar, a place in Kiev where over two days over 33,000 Jews were killed. Not gassed, but lined up in groups of 10 along the ravine to be shot, and then tumble in. Horrible, horrible, horrible event in human history, and somehow […]