Showing Archived Posts

America’s High-Speed Rail: ‘I Think I Can, I Think I Can’

Posted June 28th, 2011 at 7:07 pm (UTC-4)
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A dozen or so years ago, Carol — my photographer wife whose images often grace this space — was hired by Amtrak to go to Pueblo, Colorado,  where the passenger railroad was testing America’s version of the Japanese “bullet train.”  Although our nation was embarrassingly late to the party, high-speed train travel was finally pulling […]

We’re No. 1? Not in World Expos

Posted June 24th, 2011 at 1:50 pm (UTC-4)
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Last time, in a grand tour of the six great world’s fairs hosted by the United States in the single decade of the 1930s — Depression times, no less — I pointed out that it has been 27 years since tour nation threw such a party for the world.  And there won’t be another one […]

World’s Fairs Then, Now, and Whenever

Posted June 17th, 2011 at 4:42 pm (UTC-4)
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  Imagine a time of wonderment when lofty dreams and sleek designs and magical technology could inspire a worn and dejected nation to dream. World’s fairs had that power in the 1930s — the decade that bore the brunt of the Great Depression — when six U.S. extravaganzas lifted spirits and gave our people the […]

Dealing with the Fat of Our Land

Posted June 13th, 2011 at 6:18 pm (UTC-4)
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Of late I’ve lost 16 kilos (35 pounds).  Friends look at me with startled wonder, as if they’ve bumped into a unicorn.  “You OK?” they say.  Since I’m well known for lacking dietary discipline, they figure I’ve come down with a deadly disease. To their surprise, and mine, I have shrunk the puffy jowls and […]

Whole Lotta Shaking, Baking — and Snaking

Posted June 9th, 2011 at 1:30 pm (UTC-4)
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Last posting, I presented a reasonably close inspection of the somewhat aloof, but by no means separatist, Amish people and their culture.  I pointed out that although the sect clings to 19th-century ways, it is growing and thriving. As I noted, however, the long-term success of other onetime “people apart” in the mainstream American culture […]

The Amish: Among Us But Apart — and Thriving

Posted June 6th, 2011 at 6:04 pm (UTC-4)
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Many U.S. separatist religious or cultural sects have seen their numbers diminish or die out.  In fact, in a short follow-up to this posting in a couple of days, I’ll tell you about two of them. But some remarkably plain people who wear what must be uncomfortably hot outfits as the American summer nears, and […]

The Office

Posted June 2nd, 2011 at 2:29 pm (UTC-4)
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I’ve written a lot about work — about office etiquette and stresses and violence; promotions and firings and telecommuting; and about “office politics” and what passes for office humor.  See the comic strip “Dilbert” and the hit American TV show “The Office” for more about workplace humor, much of it doleful, akin to sarcastic “jailhouse […]

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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