I’m very, very happy to announce that my novel Java Wake has just been published and is available starting today in print edition and e-book on Amazon. Here’s a little more from the back cover: “Stephen Cranton’s mid-life crisis is coming on a decade too early. On a business trip to Indonesia, he evaluates his …
One thing that continually amazes me, after calling Indonesia my home for the last 12 years, is how fertile the soil is on Java. Fertile is actually an understatement. Active volcanoes pour their nutrient rich dust on the landscape year round and the rainy season drenches our island for about half the year, the result …
Eight-year-old Dika twists around in his wheel chair, trying to hold his head up enough to get a good look at us. He smiles. By the look of the bumpy roads our team traveled to get to his house, I don’t think his wheelchair ever leaves the front porch. He pretty much stays put …
“This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” I John 3:16 For centuries, the people living in villages clustered along the south coast of Java have lived in terror of Nyai Loro Kidul, the …
By Paul Richardson
To me, wine tastes about as delicious as gasoline. Yet, having been a waiter for six years, I understand the wine drinking ethos. Most folks who order a glass of wine with dinner are simply casual wine drinkers. Their motivation is to impress their dinner companions, and they really don’t have a clue as to whether they are drinking something exquisite or worthless.
Some rare people, though, don’t just casually drink wine. They are actual connoisseurs. Now, I must point out that you should not be allowed to say the word connoisseur unless you can pronounce it with a French accent, which counts me out. Wine snobs … I mean, connoisseurs, don’t just put wine in their mouths and guzzle it down like a dog standing over its dish. For wine connoisseurs, drinking wine is really more of an experience.
Skipping stones is sort of like this.
IN THE SUMMER of my 21st birthday, I adventured to the damp outpost of Koropun, in the magnificent highlands of Irian Jaya. Those were the most significant two months of my entire life. Each morning, my friends and I rose up out of bed at 5 am, ate a quick breakfast and went outside to gawk at the towering, breath taking, rugged mountains and breathe in the crisp air. Our primary task was to complete the construction of a church. We had to work fast, knowing that at about noon, dark storm clouds would come rolling up the valley and bombard our village with intense rain, sending every one of us running indoors. The afternoon rain would often continue through the cold nights.
WHAT COMES AROUND goes around. Has it already been nine years since my friend Timo shared with me his dream of launching a youth soccer league? His passion for youth soccer “had me at hello.” Indonesians live with a love for the game, but a decade ago there was no grassroots movement to foster the talents of