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Cuba, Summer 2023: Havana, Vinales, Varadero, Santa Maria del Mar. I can’t take credit for the first 6 portraits. Those were taken by my very talented Cuban photographer friend, Alian Borroto Rodriguez. You can follow him on IG at Alian_lens. With this trip, I wasn’t able to focus on photography as much as I would have liked. The intensity of the colors, smells, food, music, art, and architecture often rendered us silent and wide-eyed. The island has such a rich, fascinating history of cultural pride and the people we met became instant friends. They call it the island of eye-contact because no one is looking at their phones. The beaches were untouched paradise. No advertising clutter or capitalist cues competing for your attention. Just raw humanity. Similar to the way residents of the American Gulf Coast mark time with hurricanes, Cubans do so with the Revolution. And images of Che Guevara, the 23-year old rebel physician who jumped on the back of his friend’s Norton 500cc and became “the face that launched a 1,000 t-shirts” are everywhere.

Japan, Summer 2019. Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamikochi & Matsumoto. Sadly, we missed Osaka, Hiroshima and Okinawa because of a typhoon. This trip was best summed up by the phrase: “It goes like that,” the Japanese version of “it is what it is.” While the American phrase sounds insouciant, the Japanese version sounds prophetic. Arigatogo simos (thank you so much) always with a bow. And the beloved Fuji-san “she is a shy mountain.” We were on a boat all around her yet she was blanketed in clouds the entire time. In the middle of the summer. We hiked through the Japanese Alps, visited Honda, Toyota and Nissan, learned to use a variety of Japanese weapons, cycled thorough Kyoto, paid respects at countless Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples and hit every ramen shop possible. It was the most civilized, respectful, exquisitely peaceful place the boys and I have ever experienced. Returning to a busy American airport, 13-year old Leo lamented “Mom, I think I’m suffering culture shock from my own culture.”