Showing Archived Posts

Paradise Redefined

Posted May 29th, 2009 at 5:49 pm (UTC-4)
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Wh`y Hawai`i? The Hawaiian state flag is certainly a curious one for a U.S. state. It’s actually a hybrid of the British Union Jack and the American standard’s stripes, with blue ones thrown in Until relatively recently, most Americans, including me, have identified our 50th and newest state – if you call admission to the […]

Remembering the War to End Wars

Posted May 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm (UTC-4)
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In 1917 and 1918, many ordinary Americans and most soldiers heading off to fight on the European Continent in World War I crossed the country by rail. And those who passed through Kansas City – once a brawling cowtown on the wide Missouri River that had grown into a brash city of a quarter-million people […]

San Francisco Treat

Posted May 8th, 2009 at 4:24 pm (UTC-4)
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In Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck, the great American novelist, wrote, “San Francisco put on a show for me.” And it is still true much of the time, though perhaps a little less predictably, for the countless visitors to California’s “City by the Bay” today. There are still plenty of geological and meteorological curiosities, examples […]

Airborne America

Posted May 1st, 2009 at 2:13 pm (UTC-4)
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I’m writing from crisp, clear, cool San Francisco, after a day’s slog by air ─ yes, as you’ll see, it is possible to slog via airplane ─ from muggy, cloudy, hot Washington, D.C. Once I’ve poked around a bit and reacquainted myself with the distinctive “City by the Bay,” I’ll give you a report and […]

National Road, American Treasure

Posted April 24th, 2009 at 6:40 pm (UTC-4)
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Carol and I just got back from a fascinating drive along an interstate highway, parts of which are barely wider than a pickup truck! It’s a highway, all right, just not a new one. And it was an interstate – in fact, the very first federal highway, begun in 1811, about 140 years before land […]

Sad Times in Slavic Village

Posted April 17th, 2009 at 1:46 pm (UTC-4)
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If you’ve been with me from the start of Ted Landphair’s America, you’ll remember that I began with some memories of a pleasant childhood in the first suburb to the west of bustling Cleveland, Ohio. When I was a lad of 8 in 1950, the big city next door was at its apogee – pushing […]

Culturating

Posted April 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm (UTC-4)
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This time out, I want to explore some aspects of American culture. Not the flute-recital kind, though I’ve long thought of culture in that regard. Rather, a glance at several other aspects, some of which aren’t cultured at all. Pop culture’s not quite like this. Although, come to think of it, sometimes people in it […]

Lots of Odds; Fewer Ends

Posted February 27th, 2009 at 8:22 pm (UTC-4)
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Those of us who write for the internationally targeted Voice of America have learned to keep a few things in mind: Not all homes in America look like this. In fact, not very many do One is that our reality is not the reality of many places to which we communicate. We need to be […]

Wonders

Posted February 20th, 2009 at 7:25 pm (UTC-4)
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My last posting on Abraham Lincoln is the jumping-off point for today’s missive. Last time, I pointed out that Abe’s is one of four gigantic sculptures of the heads of former U.S. presidents that were blasted out of a granite hillside on Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Someone here in the […]

Abe

Posted February 12th, 2009 at 6:37 pm (UTC-4)
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When I was knee high to a bobcat, as my mother liked to say, the birthday of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, was a huge day in school. We reviewed and recited the many accomplishments of “Honest Abe,” the “Rail-Splitter.” This classic photographic portrait of Abraham Lincoln was created by Alexander Gardner, a Mathew Brady […]

Ted Landphair

About

This is a far-ranging exploration of American life by a veteran Voice of America “Americana” reporter and essayist.

Ted writes about the thousands of places he has visited and written about as a broadcaster and book author. Ted Landphair’s America often showcases the work of his wife and traveling companion, renowned American photographer Carol M. Highsmith.

Ted welcomes feedback, questions, and ideas. View Ted’s profile. Watch a video about Ted and Carol by VOA’s Nico Colombant.

Photos by Carol M. Highsmith

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