tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54658928965039405972012-01-27T01:58:18.331-08:00What follows are a few stories and photos from the journey. Please write anytime: wright.elliott@gmail.comElliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-33330141825126778652009-10-04T22:27:00.000-07:002009-10-04T22:31:20.147-07:00

During my first experience with Outward Bound, between rowing sets on a gear raft in Utah’s Cataract Canyon, Course Director Paul Duba told me the OB recipe: “Select ten strangers,” he said, “remove social dependencies, include unusual and stressful circumstances, add skills and learning opportunities, sprinkle in some natural grandeur, a soupcon of skilled instructors, and carefully let simmer;

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-71200929850418516692009-04-24T16:37:00.000-07:002009-04-24T16:39:07.765-07:00

"The journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that really matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world's sake - even when the world bores and sickens and scares you half to death - that little by little we start to come alive." Fredrick Buechner (quote thanks to Camille and Ian Howells)

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-77356507366948625632009-04-19T09:27:00.000-07:002009-04-19T09:40:08.794-07:00

Greeting friends. As many of you know I am a big NPR news fan and also a big fan of a radio show called the Jefferson Hour www.jeffersonhour.org. On the show a humanities professor and expert on Thomas Jefferson and his time answers questions as if he were Jefferson. I've learned a lot about history and philosophy through this show. Yesterday, they discussed Thoreau and his philosophy - the

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-81460402334732417702008-08-26T21:13:00.000-07:002008-08-26T21:15:04.750-07:00

On May 12th, 2008 an earthquake measuring 8.0 struck a remote and highly populated region of Western Sichuan Province, in China.The human and physical devastation the earthquake caused is unlike anything the world has seen. Hundreds of thousands of people are permanently displaced and must re-build their lives from scratch, after having lost family and friends. Many of the devastated areas are in

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-50983814604325297822008-01-03T12:13:00.001-08:002008-01-03T12:16:04.211-08:00

There has been wide-spread violence in parts of Kenya, including in areas of greater Nairobi since the December 30 announcement that President Kibaki won re-election. Since December 30, isolated areas of Nairobi have experienced rioting, looting, and burning. There has been violence in other cities including Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa.

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-65333429511949298112007-12-30T20:50:00.000-08:002007-12-31T10:38:06.185-08:00

December 31, 2007Dear Family and Friends:Jambo! Guten Tag! Shalom! Namaste! Hola! Ciao! Chao!Salam! Bonjour! Dia Duit! Ni Hao! Konichiwa! Jullay! Hello!Hailing from a dozen countries this year, the Wrights of Denver are excited to offer our warmest international “hello” and belated best wishes for your New Year. Yes, it’s the 31st of December again, and as all of your wonderful Holiday letters

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-2775181842977007752007-12-13T00:19:00.000-08:002007-12-13T00:19:45.570-08:00

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-56189106488471193282007-11-26T19:32:00.000-08:002007-11-27T22:08:29.785-08:00

OurselvesWhen the throaty calls of sandhill cranesecho across the valley, when the rimrock flares incandescent red, and the junipers are flames of green on the shortgrass hills, in that moment of last clear light when the world seems ready to speak its name, meet me in the field alongside the pond...Without careers for once, without things to do, without dreams or anger or the rattle of fears, we

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-16108480628699113522007-11-04T09:41:00.000-08:002007-11-04T09:42:55.967-08:00

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-401816968203643812007-10-08T22:25:00.000-07:002007-10-08T22:28:27.867-07:00

Isaac and I had a great time climbing this last summer on Long Peak. Afterwards had time to hang out with the Peruvian crew at St. Malo: Ricardo, Jose, and others. A total of 7000 feet of vertical GDP we were quick with the out, and quick with the back. Hats off to Isaac for getting me up early enough to make it happen.

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-54384713972011984342007-10-08T22:04:00.000-07:002007-10-24T22:49:24.561-07:00

Finished 17:44 in the 5th annual Running of the Bulls 5k. In this race I went out at about 5:12 pace and ended with an average of 5:41 over the 3.1 miles. They released the bulls two-minutes after the start of the race (these weren't actual bulls, however, but fomer olympians and really fast collegiate runners). Needless to say, things are rather slow going on the races for me lately.

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-11525964134113580022007-09-13T21:40:00.000-07:002007-12-13T00:25:41.000-08:00

Experience the Impact!Rachel Lindenberg spoke at the rim of the "Meteor Crater" near Flagstaff, Arizona. Her speech, despite having known absolutely nothing about meteors was surprisingly cogent and put-together. Science has proven the following transcribed speech to be correct and accurate. Currently Rachel is being considered for the Nobel Prize in Meteoric Impact. As you can see from the

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-82527195698233961762007-07-10T15:44:00.000-07:002007-10-08T22:04:18.242-07:00

Just got off the mountain with my dad. We climbed Pikes Peak on a Monday with nothing but the earth and sky between us and 13 miles of pleasant trail hiking. Certainly one for the memories...and certainly a shocker to see the dougnut hut at the summit!

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-32556099925077503972007-06-30T18:57:00.000-07:002010-01-31T09:12:34.341-08:00

Working for the United Nations in Southeast Asia was a great experience I am glad to have completed. Now home, sitting at the "Dog Tooth Cafe" in Colorado Springs, I can't help but feel this overwhelming sense of appreciation, gratitude, and unbelievable exhaustion. And really there is nothing more challenging than living in Asia except returning to the crazy splendor of America. Yes. I am

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-86340518154746905802007-06-30T18:22:00.001-07:002007-07-13T12:07:10.338-07:00

Dear Friends and Family:Right now I am siting outside the United Airlines Executive Lounge in Tokyo, snatching a bit of the wireless internet vibe wafting through their stately and elegant entrance. Unable to afford official recognition as one of the executive loungers...my piece of carpet in the hallway will have to do. There are a few of us backpacking interloper types camped along this

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-58474223604240166892007-06-27T20:36:00.000-07:002007-06-30T18:22:05.277-07:00

Learning to stay; Learning to leaveIf I could make it around the corner,If I could just get past that traffic light,If I could weave my way through that crowd,If I could hold my breath past the puddle,If I could make the journey home,Then a perfect love is continued, full, and alive.Then we are complete, together-ly apart, and happy.And If learning to stay and learning to leave,has root in this

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-83104894646899580072007-06-25T20:28:00.000-07:002007-07-13T12:07:31.121-07:00

For the past weeks I have been working for the United Nations as an intern to support the develop a 3-day workshop focused on Avian Human Influenza (AHI). The UN's role in the systemic prepraredness of Asian and Pacific nations serves both in advance and in the event of a pandemic. My role is primarily administrative in the development of materials and functional execution of the workshop, but

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-2860587297137087632007-06-19T06:15:00.000-07:002007-06-27T21:21:34.914-07:00

Thailand is a wonderful wonderful place, but is now in the throws of defining its future while at the same time trying to cope with its past. The result is a failed nation state with an ambivalent global presence with conflicting priorities, and as a result, a forgotten historical precedent of sustainability. Now here in the great city of Bangkok, I look around into a sea of complacent

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-11224948569239764212007-06-10T01:31:00.000-07:002007-06-26T20:58:59.399-07:00

A wise man told me in Ladakh (he happens to be one of you actually) that "life is not a lesson to be learned, but a mystery to be lived." When I clicked the purchase button for this last trip to Ladakh my goals were simple and concrete, but have become a bit complicated and manifold. Yet I think the goals then remained somehow beneath or within that complexity. I wanted to reconnect with the

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-48604861295699229362007-06-08T23:25:00.000-07:002007-06-08T23:29:44.408-07:00

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-42483748580091359892007-05-16T09:24:00.000-07:002007-05-16T09:25:10.159-07:00

Question: What is the truest definition of globalisation?Answer: Princess Diana's death.Question: Why?Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky, (check the bottle before you change the spelling)followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-76829850066410984592007-05-11T17:59:00.000-07:002007-05-16T08:47:05.171-07:00

Tourists on September 19, 2006 taking photos of the military take-over in Bangkok, Thailand.

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-76563833714084520482007-04-27T02:17:00.000-07:002007-06-26T20:59:19.848-07:00

A salesman at the base of my apartment tells me with his billboards and persistent greetings that "happiness is a refridgerator." Somehow as I walked to school this morning I almost became convinced that happiness was a refriderator, or more to the point, that it could be my happiness if I didn't know of an even greater happiness. This thought in mind, its amazing how quickly life can just

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-42905197349137485232007-04-25T10:48:00.000-07:002007-05-07T07:09:46.949-07:00

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-47874300045130170062007-04-15T06:20:00.000-07:002007-06-26T20:57:35.462-07:00

"Trust is Allah, but tie up your camel."- from Three Cups of Tea

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-38935578831394726772007-04-15T05:49:00.000-07:002007-07-13T12:05:11.229-07:00

Everyone has their heartbreak story. Now I have mine. Am I proud? Never. Would I love her again? I do still and have ever since I left. So how to tell the story of a broken heart? In fact, why tell it? So many have had it before and so many will again in the future. I wonder if that’s why I hyperventilated when I cried. There is perhaps an infinity in the sorrow where too many have lost their

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-58319508357941543482007-04-07T08:39:00.000-07:002007-04-15T21:12:01.070-07:00

There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don't you?- Rumi

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-26541185378796716312007-04-03T07:54:00.000-07:002007-05-11T18:24:37.135-07:00

I know that I will never be able to fully describe the three weeks in Africa with the family, but its worth trying. The family all came out to surprise Perry on the last leg of his journey. We spent 9 days on a safari in Kenya... Kenya is a wonderful and scary place. Many stories for the books... our vehicle got stuck in the Sarengeti and the entire Masai Mara tribe came out to help us push it

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-27924313403893697302007-04-03T07:30:00.000-07:002007-04-27T02:41:30.555-07:00

The Philippine people of Mabul Island (off the east coast of Malaysia) are small in number but create more community that villages and city's of thousands of people. Why? Because they depend on community for survival. Interdependence is what it was: an essential element of human life and livlihood. They are at core happy people, with a unique system of cultural norms. For example, you cannot come

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-72051615971240767462007-04-01T10:28:00.000-07:002007-04-27T02:42:04.653-07:00

Dusit Park, Northern BangkokApril 1, 2007For me a few things initiate the feeling to write. Right now it is the slowness of eating rice with chop-sticks, three grains (or a small clump at a time). Its my birthday today. Twenty-five years ago my mom brought me into this world, and as sit now with my plate of rice at a quiet park in the middle of 12 million people, I became impatient with my rice.

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-80950856978871523612007-04-01T10:13:00.000-07:002007-04-09T10:39:36.865-07:00

"Tell us, if there were one thing we could do for you village, what would it be?""With all respect, Sahib, you have little to teach us in strength and toughness. And we don't envy you your restless spirits. Perhaps we are happier than you? But we would like our children to go to school. Of all the things you have, learning is the one we most desire for our children."- Conversation between Sir

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-56091527430760469862007-04-01T09:53:00.000-07:002007-04-27T02:42:29.755-07:00

Today in class the most amazing thing happened. Usually we are just hacking our way through a variety of Infectious Diseases or topics regarding the status of current Global Health efforts. But the other day we all talked about 9/11. It may seem hard to believe but I believe this event, more than any other in our generations history, shaped the world. Suddenly the big, impregnable America became

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-86750384850718206222007-03-29T01:58:00.000-07:002007-04-27T02:43:20.265-07:00

Mid- February, 2007Kota Kinabalu is an enchanted mountain on the island of Indoneasia, the largest as it were, between the Himlayas and Australia, nearly hitting 14000 feet! It was a great pleasure and honor to climb the mountain and to venture through the Borneo rainforests of Tawan Kinabalu with the trabal people of the region. The people are progressive and aware of the the ecological

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-73208190272603687722007-03-27T05:11:00.001-07:002007-04-27T02:43:44.310-07:00

Thursday February 22, 2007 Yesterday was exhausting and at the same time exhilarating. I am taking an Advanced Diver Course off the eastern coast of Malaysia and have truly been enjoying my time. Yesterday I dove off the south point of Sipidan Island on the famed island for sealife. The "Turtle Cave" surprised me. It goes under the entire island. That's right, you can swim under an entire island!

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-81801076611389697272007-03-27T04:53:00.000-07:002007-04-27T02:45:31.415-07:00

Wednesday February 28, 2007 (Dark O'clock)Well here I am, dreaming about writing, writing about my dreams, and the pursuit of them in real terms...continues. The silence of a solo taxi, driving a solo mission to get me to the airport, down solo streets is terrifying. The only restraint on the taxi drivers speed in Southeast Asia, and ironically the only source of their safety (and occasional

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-9788501218852346002007-03-27T04:51:00.000-07:002007-04-15T21:22:58.543-07:00

"Now I know the secret of makingthe best persons;It is to grow in the open airand to eat and sleep with the earth."- Good ol' Walt Whitman

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-61521861336991139482007-03-27T03:59:00.000-07:002007-05-07T10:19:31.277-07:00

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465892896503940597.post-84530689265729072192007-03-27T03:15:00.000-07:002007-06-26T21:00:18.393-07:00

Saturday January 13, 2007Well here I am in Bangkok, Thailand on the second full day of my emerging journey in Southeast Asia. Perry is taking a few days to teach with a school in Rayong, Thailand, and I have been tending to a few errands with my new home, Mahindol University and their Faculty of Public Health. I have been living beside a Buddhist Temple near Khaosan Road, but movement around the

Elliott Wrightnoreply@blogger.com