For the first time since 1998, autumn approaches, and, despite department stores' ceaseless efforts to remind everyone of their "Back to School" deals, I will not be among the droves of students returning to the hallowed halls of learning all across the country. And, you know, if that isn't something.
Read MoreOn July 1, 2016, the greatest punk rock band of any generation released its seventh studio album, the first musical project to feature vocalist/guitarist Matt Skiba, of Alkaline Trio fame. Blink 182's California, in my mind, pays admirable tribute to the band's earlier music, while throwing in some pop-y elements. Those little things are easily forgiven considering I feel just peachy that Blink has released new music for the first time in four years and most of the album rocks soundly.
Read MoreIt's that time, folks. It's finally come. For better or worse, I am here to admit — wait for it, this one's a real shocker — that I may not be the most adept athlete that has ever graced this earth. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Oh come on, he caught, like, nine passes during four seasons of varsity football, and surely he had at least a sub-.200 batting average in three seasons of varsity baseball... And didn't he *almost* win like four intramural volleyball playoff games during college?"
Read MoreHome, as we know, is one of those words that, on its own, says a thousand things at once. It is a place, a feeling, an idea; it carries its own aura, makes you long for it, causes those nostalgic flashbacks to play in your mind. It is very much a noun capable of heavy lifting, of calling out to us and touching us in a way that tugs at our heart strings.
Read MoreIt was mid-February when I decided to drop $350 on a four-day weekend pass to a summer music festival. I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at a friend's place, looking over the details online — who would be playing, where we would stay, etc. — when he and I pulled the trigger and signed ourselves up for the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware, the capital of America's first state.
Read MoreAs a kid, that arboreal enclosure was more than pine cones, sappy tree branches, and pokey pine needles; it was my Narnia, complete with three separate tree forts — what I called tree forts, anyway. There was a proper entrance and a secret exit; prickly-bushed fortifications and invisible soldiers to carry out orders; heights to climb to and an “elevator” of branches to bring me back down. Fragmentary visualization is the only way I can see this magical place from my childhood nowadays; I don’t think I even have a photograph.
Read MoreTwo final activities awaited us on the last full-fledged day of #Israel2016, the first of which was a trip to the Orchard of Abraham's Children in Jaffa. The Orchard is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2011 by Ihab and Ora Balha; its primary mission is to create a sense of community and connectedness between Israelis and Palestinians.
Read MoreDue to scheduling snafus and the fluidity of our schedule in general, we were able to drive back toward Masada this morning and climb the beast in much better weather (only in the 70s this time around). To do so, we left the hotel in Jerusalem right around 5:30 AM and made our way southeast for about an hour and a half into the Judaean Desert where Herod the Great's solitary fortress stands.
Read MoreToday began on a somber note with a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust remembrance center. We were given audio tour guide devices and headphones, and then let loose to examine the exhibits in the Holocaust History Museum — one portion of Yad Vashem — at our own pace.
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