Topic: Travel

New York City: Like visiting a new friend

By David W. Shelton | March 25, 2008 |

When I told a friend of mine last week that I was going to visit New York City, he poked at me a bit: “Oh, there’s nothing there but socialists and liberals.”

I smiled and said, “then it’ll be a refreshing change.”

All kidding aside, there’s plenty to say about visiting our country’s most populated city. Its history is replete with everything that makes for great movies, including making movies. It was Hollywood before Hollywood. The country’s comic book industry began there. It’s the first place in the world where “going up” meant REALLY going up. Skyscrapers became the norm as early as the 1920s. They hit their heyday in the early 1930s when the Chrysler Building and the legendary Empire State Building was built.

Sure, I knew all this before we arrived in Manhattan. No matter how much about New York I thought I knew, I could never have been fully prepared for the staggering reality that the Big Apple would present. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | 3 Comments

On a snowy road in America: snow, politics and wood-burning stoves

By Christine Anne Piesyk | January 1, 2008 |

Crossing the state line into Vermont, the first thing I spotted — beside the snow — was a Ron Paul sign. Blue state, it screamed.

My first memorable stop on this On The Road In America sojourn was Brattleboro, a quick pause at the roadside trailer that serves as the Vermont Trailways bus terminal, and the first bit of local news: a story about the upcoming town meeting and a petition to charge President Bush and Vice-President Cheney with war crimes. That was followed by a jumble of news stories about the inroads John McCain is making in his New Hampshire presidential primary bid. I felt right at home. Snow on the ground and political discourse hot enough to melt it. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion | 1 Comment »

With Valentino goes an era of timeless style, elegant design

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 4, 2007 |

My disclaimer: Okay. This isn’t going to be your typical Clarksville Online article. At least not my typical Clarksville Online article. For most of you who read my work or know me personally only in the context of my time in Tennessee, my involvement with peace action, or my politics and anti-war rants, this commentary may seem odd, and will likely place an entirely new, unexpected and different light on me.

My story: In my 54 years of life and work BT (before Tennessee), I moved in several dimensions: I was an editor, an arts critic, a caregiver, a part-time plumber and home remodeler, a gardener, and … a fashion fanatic. I’m the woman who goes to New York City’s Bergdorf Goodman’s to pet the fabric and get close-up and personal with intricate embroidery on $10,000 gowns. When I was sixteen and couldn’t afford a ball gown, I raided a local curtain fabric supply store, emulating Scarlett O’Hara as I designed my own from yard upon yard of white organdy diverted from its intended use. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments

Passport “pay up” policy a windfall for families owed child support

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 21, 2007 |

Thirty years ago I resigned myself to the fact that court-ordered child support payments were just not going to happen. I worked multiple jobs days, nights, weekends, jobs with plenty of flexibility that allowed me, as a single parent with a chronically ill child, to care for my daughter and make a living for us — at least enough to keep a roof over our heads, put food on the table, keep us warm in the frigid New England winters, and keep up with the ongoing medical bills.

My ex-husband died at 53, having never paid a dime of the tens of thousands he owed in outstanding child support and medical costs assigned to him, the latter arising when he allowed court-ordered health insurance to lapse.

Which is how, in this new era for single parents, I came to cheer the increasingly frequent reports of families getting windfalls in the thousands and thousands of dollars in back child support as deadbeat dads who want to travel now have to cough up cash to get out of the country. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Politics | 1 Comment »

American Road Show

By Christine Anne Piesyk | June 26, 2007 |

I’ve been on the road in America. Covered 1440 miles of it by Greyhound bus in three days, a “milk run” that snaked through dozens of small towns, by acres of farmland, and through the crumbling parts of cities on routes that buses and trains always take. Not usually the upscale parts of town. Not the places with nearby airports and extensive shuttle services.

I’m on the road in America, landing first at a rural college with small enrollment and lots of land, a place where creativity is nurtured, differing opinions are expected, and everyone is asked to think “outside the box.” It where, when I mentioned writing for an “alternative news site” and my participation in peace and anti-war activities, I was gifted with a burst of applause.

I’ve been talking to Americans as I ride the bus across a fair-sized chunk of America It’s been an adventure. It always is. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments

Little man meets big trees: Exploring the alien world of Sequoia National Park

By David W. Shelton | June 1, 2007 |

Clarksville Online Across America: While visiting central California, CO Co-Editor David W. Shelton was told that Sequoia National Park was less than an hour’s drive away, so off he went.

Photography by David W. Shelton

While visiting Visalia, CA on business this week, I had a day to explore the area. I was told that Sequoia National Park was less than an hour’s drive away, so off I went. Visalia is in the central valley of California which is about as flat as one could imagine. There aren’t many trees in the area (unless they’re citrus).

Needless to say, I was in no way prepared for the world that I was to encounter.My first indicator that the scenery was about to take a dramatic turn was the sudden onset of hills as I drove along highway 198 toward the park. The instructions to get there were pretty simple: “Get on 198 and keep going.”

Once I reached the entry of the park, I opted for the $20 one-time visit fee, which would have allowed me to come back any point in a seven-day period. Oh, if I only had that much time! I was directed to the welcome center, which was about a mile down the road. I didn’t make it that far before I was distracted by one of nature’s spectacles.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments