Showing Archived Posts

Virginia Byways and Pieways

Posted August 5th, 2010 at 1:34 pm (UTC-4)
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I told you a bit about Virginia last time but didn’t have the time or space to describe the full scope of what just might be our most historically significant state.  It was not only an incubator of American independence and the cradle of American presidents — eight of them — but also the scene […]

Killer Oaks, Seat Hogs, and More

Posted July 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm (UTC-4)
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As I, cough, cough, mentioned last time, I, hack, live in the leafy Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland. Our little town calls itself “Azalea City,” which you’d believe if you stopped by in springtime.  And year ’round, gasp, we live beneath a canopy of big, beautiful trees, including, snort, thousands and thousands of killer […]

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Sub-bore-bia?

Posted July 20th, 2010 at 10:24 am (UTC-4)
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Are you into birdhouses?  Barbed Wire?  The flamboyant singer Liberace?  Little flip-open Pez candy dispensers?  How about art made from toast?  Somewhere in America, there’s a museum devoted to it. And another unusual, but grander and eminently justifiable, museum is in the works.  Hundreds of American galleries are devoted to our great cities and the […]

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Island Hopping

Posted July 12th, 2010 at 1:43 pm (UTC-4)
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A couple of years ago, Carol and I enjoyed a pleasant visit to the Hawaiian Islands, which form America’s 50th and most remote state about a third of the way across the immense Pacific Ocean.  As we waited at the Honolulu airport prior to flying home, we got to talking with another outbound American. She […]

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Boroughing In

Posted June 30th, 2010 at 2:32 pm (UTC-4)
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Last time was the easy part. I’d been wanting to write about New York City, and I focused on the core of the Big Apple — Manhattan Island, whose power, glamour, and jaw-dropping scale form our image of the city as a whole. But there are four other boroughs, or administrative divisions, including one that […]

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The Ginormous Apple

Posted June 21st, 2010 at 7:10 pm (UTC-4)
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As the rocker Alice Cooper once put it, I’ve been “Big Apple dreamin’.” For me and anyone else who’s beguiled by New York City’s grandeur and charms, only a few months — a couple of years at most — can pass before the itch to visit again needs scratching. You, too, may have put big, […]

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Ch-ch-change

Posted June 14th, 2010 at 5:33 pm (UTC-4)
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While daring dashes into the unknown can be exhilarating, humans by and large prefer comfortable routines. Especially as we age, sharp course alterations threaten, scare, even debilitate us. “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction […]

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Emancipation Day

Posted June 4th, 2010 at 6:15 pm (UTC-4)
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What would you call May 8th if you wanted to make it a holiday? Mayth? Would September 1st be Septemberst? No such holidays exist. But there is a similar one — in June, on the 19th. It’s a day of great significance to all Americans and African Americans in particular. It’s called “Juneteenth,” and a […]

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Here Yesterday, Gone Today

Posted May 27th, 2010 at 3:47 pm (UTC-4)
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If you’re one of those people who must have the latest news, the hottest song, the newest techno-toy, catch me next time. This posting, I’m going to take my sweet time waxing nostalgic. Let’s start up the street, at Bielski’s or Mankowitz’s or Schoeningruber’s store. For a century and more, corner stores were an essential […]

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Who am I?

Posted May 20th, 2010 at 4:11 pm (UTC-4)
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As your mother might have told you when she nagged you to scrub your face and comb your hair, how we look and what we wear say a lot about us. We make assumptions about people based solely upon their appearance. Disheveled young man: rock-band drummer? Neatly attired older woman: librarian, or maybe a banker? […]

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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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