Don Pogreba is a current writer and retired teacher of English, Social Studies and Debate, and a loyal, if often sad, fan of the San Diego Padres and Portland Timbers. When he is not traveling, he is working on his classroom web site or dreaming about another adventure.
Malta is the kind of place where bus schedules seem to offer less a guarantee that a bus will arrive at the appointed time than a hope, but it’s also the kind of place where your Airbnb host will, when you ask if you might do some laundry, insist that she’ll do it–and the next morning you’ll find your clothes hanging from the...
The contempt airlines seem to have for their passengers is staggering. We pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for the privilege of flying on increasingly packed flights with an ever-decreasing list of amenities on board only matched by the growth of various fees and charges that complete the frustration of commercial flight. In exchange...
As the snow falls again in Helena today, I’m finding myself more excited about my spring break trip, one that will involve three nights in Munich, six on Malta, and about 23 hours in Reykjavik. While I have been to Reykjavik more times than most people deserve to and have a pretty good sense of how I’ll spend my time there...
Will Public Opinion Turn Against Assault Weapons?–In wondering whether the American public, in contrast to its representatives, is interested in solving this problem, I came across this helpful Upshot matrix tracking both the most effective policies (as measured in a poll of experts) and the most popular ones. Some of the most...
It’s hard to be a teenager. On Thursday, some of my students were trying to process their fears about what happened in Florida while others were dealing with the no less real pain of hearts left just a little battered by Valentine’s Day and the pangs of unrequited love. Whether it’s the fear that their schools might not...
In Defense Of The Emotional Support Hamster–Alternatively: Maybe people just want to take their cat on a plane, and not pay the hundred-plus dollars that airlines charge for the privilege. Perhaps, after a decade where airlines learned to fee-gouge in every possible way, for everything from checking luggage to changing flights and...
After a bit of a delay, some of my photos from Latvia, where I had one or two interesting encounters.
While it was rainy and the skies were often gray during my brief visit to Helsinki, it was an excellent start to my Baltic adventure.
For the first time since 2011, I didn’t get to my goal of 75 books read in a calendar year. In fact, I didn’t even get close, with 53 being a best case this year. There are a number of reasons why I didn’t read as much as I like to, but I’m going to give most of the blame to Meredith Grey and the months-long funk...