Travis told a story at the foot of Machu Picchu that has stayed with me ever since. I had asked whether being a soldier in Iraq changed him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Also, a very special thanks to Carlos Molina Rojas for providing the opening music. You can hear more of his band, Grupo Sonkoy, on Youtube by clicking. Visit Preemptive Love→ preemptivelove.org This is an organization that does relief work in Iraq. "We are edged...
Nov 27, 2017•19 min
Larry's life changed when he took his very first hike into the paradise at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in his fifties. I asked what prompted that fateful trip ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Also, a very special thanks to Carlos Molina Rojas for providing the opening music. You can hear more of his band, Grupo Sonkoy, on Youtube. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Hope is like a path in the countryside. At first th...
Nov 21, 2017•45 min
Gloria longed to visit Peru and climb Machu Picchu, like so many of us. I asked what happened when she got to Cusco ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Also, a very special thanks to Carlos Molina Rojas for providing the opening music. You can hear more of his band, Grupo Sonkoy, on Youtube. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "One is drawn irresistibly onward by ever-recurring surprises through a deep, winding gorge, turni...
Nov 13, 2017•31 min
Tony rode freight trains for nine years, picking up a wife, a son, and a dog along the way. I met him and his dog, Pig, on a Greyhound bus ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Wisdom listens." —Jimi Hendrix
Nov 06, 2017•48 min
Kathy oversees the English Language Academy at DePaul University, where international students transition into a new culture and a second or third or fourth language. I asked her to come tell us how their stories have changed her at our very first live show at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Special thanks to the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum too. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at K...
Oct 30, 2017•45 min
Anne moved from Indonesia to South Korea to Chicago, where we sat down with her in front a live audience at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum to discuss a very visible change that travel caused in her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Distilling is beautiful." —Primo Levi
Oct 09, 2017•19 min
Mike left the U.S. with his wife and kids to learn Spanish and build a church in Spain. I asked which beliefs survived the journey and which didn't ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org “One of you spoke words of warm consolation for my traveling thousands of miles of sea over such a long period to come to your country.” —Shusaku Endo
Oct 02, 2017•39 min
Jay has so many stories I didn't know where to begin. A pilgrimage in Japan. A pilgrimage in Spain. A cathedral in France. A temple in Korea. I asked how these discoveries have changed him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Walked all day and the next day. The road straight, grey, dusty, and trafficless." —Bruce Chatwin
Sep 25, 2017•1 hr 7 min
Daniel took me to the cafe in Buenos Aires where Borges used to read stories to his mother. I asked what it was like to immigrate to the US and then back to Argentina again, and how he ended up in Sicily along the way ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org "The fox makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction." —Wendell Berry
Sep 18, 2017•30 min
Liz sat down with me on the steps of Oslo Sentralstasjon before departing further north to the Svalbard archipelago to look for polar bears. I asked what it's like being a diplomat from New Zealand ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org "Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente." —Santiago, Chile
Sep 11, 2017•18 min
Cafemin is a way station in Mexico City on the migrant route from Latin America to the US. I asked the director how people change when they rest there ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Like Cafemin on Facebook→ Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org "I feel always below the grace of their behavior the instinctive, primeval hatred of the stranger." —W. Somerset Maugham
Sep 04, 2017•23 min
Maria is a translator from the south of Spain. I asked whether there's ever been an idea she couldn't get across ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ Kiva.org “A word spoken by chance might have strange consequences.” —Nalungiaq
Aug 28, 2017•32 min
Fred and I traveled to Cádiz for Carnaval together. On the way back he told me how New Caledonia changed his life. I asked what it's like to work in Paris's equivalent of the TSA ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Tal vez el lugar que añoro nunca existió." —Isabel Allende
Aug 21, 2017•31 min
Saundra always used to get lost when she was a kid. Now she's on a quest to get to 100 countries. We spoke at Wish Willy's, a jerk chicken specialist's in Caye Caulker, Belize, which was her 79th country. I asked how her quest has changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "There is nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." —John Lennon
Aug 14, 2017•24 min
Kenneth came to the Nobel Museum in Stockholm expecting more artifacts but ended up leaving one of his own. I asked how in the world he met Jorge Luis Borges ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at kiva.org "I deplore the fact that you have not yet received a Nobel Prize, especially when it was given to so many who deserved it less, like me, who am only an adventurer." —Ernest Hemingway
Aug 07, 2017•24 min
Jarrod Brown recently became a citizen of Honduras, the culmination of a two-decade transformation that began with one fateful overseas trip. He is the founder of Mission Lazarus, a non-profit organization that seeks to transform people’s lives through Jesus and through action. Jarrod's led a life full of travel stories, so I hardly knew where to begin, except of course to ask what happened to him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Ch...
Aug 01, 2017•1 hr 9 min
Danny is from near my hometown, just outside Chicago, but we met sitting on top of a 125 foot stone temple that peeks out of thick jungle. I asked what he'd take away from his trip to Guatemala ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Did not Columbus himself set sail because he had read Marco Polo's narrative?" —Tzvetan Todorov
Jul 24, 2017•19 min
Sune takes care of a Mayan ceremonial site on a tiny lake in Guatemala that's ringed by volcanoes. A famed spiritual energy there attracts hippies, tourists, local faithful, and other seekers. We spoke, by chance, in Copenhagen, where he summers. Since I've been to those fire rings in Lago de Atitlán too, I asked what the coincidence of our meeting in Denmark could mean ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva ...
Jul 19, 2017•20 min
Dakota was intentionally trying to get lost at the Art Institute of Chicago. I asked what he looked like ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "One of us will talk, the other will listen." —György Konrád
Jul 10, 2017•13 min
Patxi ran with the bulls, and I caught up with him near Iruña Cafe, where Hemingway used to write. I asked a very special guest to translate his side of our conversation ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "I have learned a great deal from listening carefully." —Ernest Hemingway
Jul 04, 2017•17 min
Amin was a trance DJ from Singapore, until he traveled to Sri Lanka for his last show. I asked how Austria brought him closer to his faith ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "I hope the leaving is joyful, and I hope never to return." —Frida Kahlo
Jun 26, 2017•30 min
Janusz made a movie in Namibia. He claims to look like a neanderthal. I asked how it felt to escape communist Poland ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org Learn Easy German on Youtube→ at EasyGerman.org Check out the Global Experience→ TheGlobalExperience.org “The most unhappy eyes in the world are those that can not flow tears.” —Kornel Makuszyński
Jun 19, 2017•52 min
Michal needs funds to repair his time machine and get back to the 1960s. I asked what we can do to help ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Follow Michal Oliver Music on Facebook→ https://www.facebook.com/michalolivermusic "So ... be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to great places!" —Theodor Geisel
Jun 12, 2017•14 min
Jaey is in the process of moving from Seoul to Barcelona by way of South America. We met in a blustery corner of Chile, where he told three beautiful stories from his trip. I asked why he's not allowed into the most famous soccer stadium in Buenos Aires ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "We are for the most part lonely when we go abroad." —Henry David Thoreau
Jun 05, 2017•33 min
Part 2 of our special 50th Episode celebration! We look back at some of the stories that resonated this year and what their sum could mean. At the end I tell the story of the man in Burma who made me hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. And a very special thanks to Dave for stepping in to host again this week. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "Where we are is who we are." —Fernando Pessoa
May 27, 2017•44 min
Part 1 of our special 50th Episode mile marker! A friend helped me lift the hood to look into the engine of this podcast. Inside we found a Yeats poem, the story of the coin Primo Levi brought back from Auschwitz, and why his is the path I most want to follow. And of course, as always, I hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. And to Allison for taking this photo. And a very special thanks to Dave for stepping in to host this week and share W.B. Y...
May 17, 2017•34 min
Elio and I met in a cwm, a mountain valley carved by a glacier. What he said there led me to reflect on the sublime ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "What is wonderful always goes together with a sense of dismay." —Pseudo-Longinus
May 08, 2017•16 min
Andes has to get a letter from the office of labor in Bonn, so that he can extend his stay in Berlin, before returning to Sweden to continue his studies, before ultimately, maybe, one day returning to Indonesia. I went with him to the post office ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. “What I hear most often as I travel the country are five words that never, ever fail to touch my heart, that’s ‘I am praying for you.’” —Donald Trump
May 01, 2017•29 min
Binta took her very first trip alone at a very young age. Looking back, she wonders if maybe she might have been too trusting. We asked why she's traveling alone still ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org "All my days I've longed to travel the right road and to take my own errant path." —Sigrid Undset
Apr 24, 2017•26 min
Kaveesh grew up in Toronto and wonders what he might have been had he only ever stayed there rather than study in London. We asked who's on the other path that diverged from the one he chose ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Join the Observer Effect Kiva Team→ at Kiva.org. "I know you must hold secrets, such a long way from home. Some day you won't be so alone. Some day you'll be where you should go." —Britt Daniel
Apr 17, 2017•34 min
