Author Archives: JJD
Booked!
It’s that time of year again, my friends! The time of year when all my great travel plans for the year start coming together. My previous Great Adventures have taken me to Africa, South America, Europe (Eastern and Western) and the Middle East — so where to this year? Asia! Southeast Asia, to be specific: Vietnam and Cambodia. I’m going in June […]
Snowquester!
The great thing about DC snowstorms is that they generate ENORMOUS hype and anxiety, and only very rarely live up to it — which means I get to enjoy all the drama of a weather emergency without the inconvenience of the real thing. For example, today: DC is supposed to get socked by the last big […]
More misérables!
Finally, after FOUR LONG MONTHS, I’ve finished Volume I! Okay, so it may have taken my Mormon pioneer ancestors less time to cross the Great Plains than it took me to read the first half of everyone’s favorite eighteen-hundred-page novel. So what! At least nobody’s died of cholera along the way. And besides, we can chalk this […]
March!
The worst part about early March is that you think it’s spring but it’s still freezing cold. All I want is for it to be warm and sunny and green outside! What better way to ring in a new month and distract myself from the cold air and snowy weather forecast than planning a trip to warm and […]
Storytelling – Greek mythology and Oscar shorts
Stories. I love ’em. They get you out of your head, into someone else’s. They take you places. They make you feel things and understand things that you might never otherwise feel or understand because the scope of your first-hand experience is too narrow. As a teenager who read way too many books (for example, in […]
Ladyfood, caveman style
So. You’re a caveman. You’re all fit from crossfitting and eating mastodons and birdseed and stuff, and you get invited to a potluck with your team so that you can score some points and beat the competition. What do you bring? The answer isn’t obvious. Especially when the hostess is making some famous chili recipe and everyone […]
Short and sweet
I’m kind of famous amongst my extended family for going to crazy-long performances. And it’s true that I’m no stranger to six-hour operas and four-hour plays. But not everything I see is that long, and I certainly don’t think that everything should be that long. Indeed, there’s something sweet and clean and refreshing about being short […]
Patron of the arts
The Alvin Ailey concerts are always one of the highlights of the modern dance season at the Kennedy Center. They come every year, and every year I go and I love them. (Here’s what I wrote about their performance last year.) I saw them perform at the Kennedy Center on Thursday and, as always, the athleticism and beauty of […]
What I ate
I spent more time cooking this weekend than I have in years! Two reasons for that: First, having arrived at the end of the second week of this paleo/primal challenge, I was oh so bored of eating the same rotation of grilled meats and fresh vegetables/fruits — I needed a more complicated and satisfying hot […]
Eat like a caveman (or, Careful what you sign up for!)
Okay, so you know how I’ve been going to the local Crossfit gym for a few months now, right? Well, in early January they announced a “Primal Nutrition Challenge” and encouraged us all to sign up. I paid only enough attention to learn that there would be a nutrition seminar followed by a structured program […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 