I am endlessly entertained by my two children, and try to make a buck by writing about them whenever I can. My wife has far more sense than me; I've had a long career in human services at the same time as I've been a freelance journalist- near onto thirty years, I s'pose. Tain't much I haven't seen, now I'm scrambling to write it all down. Big on community civics, 6 year member of the Newburyport School Committee.
Bruce Menin's Full profile
Hometown
Bronx, New York, U.S. of A.
Location now
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Work published
Columnist/feature writer for the Newburyport Current; published in Worcester Magazine, Portsmouth Magazine, North Shore Weekend, Buffalo Evening News, Inside Technology Today, Mediation Quarterly; co-author of a play selected and performed at the New Works Festival in Newburyport, MA
Travel philosophy
Prepare culturally for the trip, listen first, make no assumptions, go with the flow, watch your ass and don't take stupid risks, take notes, respect the natives and smile a lot.
Craziest place
A dorm room in Cornell in 1972, where at least 14 people partied and slept over while visiting the college to catch Jethro Tull in concert.
But that's probably not what you ment by the question.
Bizarre experience
Hmmm. I visited Spain when Franco was still alive, and walked the beach one night in Malaga to get a view of the comet Kohoutek, when a gunboat passed by, shined a light on me, and aimed what seemed like 40,000 guns at me.
No, the most bizarre cultural experience I had was drinking in a pub in London in 1973, chatting loudly when a man grabbed me by the collars and lifted me off the ground and told me he was Greek, and that I should get my CIA agents "out of my country and stop trying to overthrow my government." How do you explain they aren't "your" CIA agents? After that night, I told anyone who asked I was Canadian. Sewed a big old Canadian flag right onto my backpack.
No wait. The most bizarre cultural experience, bar none, was attending the 1972 Puerto Rican Pop Festival, held on Easter weekend (brilliant planning) in a secluded area of the Island known as Vega Baja. Talk about culture clash. Nearly naked, sunburned stoned hippies, fifteen year old local youth, and very Catholic Senora's mixing it up at the local general stores and bars. Great music, but 90% of the people who attended don't remember a thing about it (I do) because they discovered that Quaaludes were sold over the counter (called Sopors, hence the name soapers).
Dream destination
Orbiting the earth. Barring that, any ice cream parlor that still serves malts.
Traveled before
I've been to Buffalo, Brooklyn and Long Island. Canada from Ontario west, two loops around the United States, Many Caribbean Islands beginning with B (Bonaire, the Bahamas, Barbados, St. Barts); Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico (Baja to Cozumel), England, Spain, Scotland; Havasupi Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Hedad-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Stonehenge, The Hammersmith Odeon (Van Morrison, 1973), and the burial site of Millard Fillmore.
Going next
Saving up all my freelance commissions for a trip to the space station.
