There is a store on U Street that is named “ 4NX¢ ” and the first time I noticed it took me a few minutes to figure it out. (Here’s a photo of it by Prince of Petworth) Foreign… ex… cent?… Oh! “Exchange!” I should have figured it out more quickly. Thinking about, promoting, and participating in international exchanges has been a big part of my life, ever since I first wandered into the foreign exchange program office my junior year of college and randomly picked out Tübingen as a place to live f…

Frequently in life, your interests in converge in unexpected ways, and I guess that is one of the things that keep this mortal existence halfway exciting. Today I am thinking about Cal Ripken, Jr., and specifically, about the recent news that he has been appointed “ Special Sports Envoy ” for the State Department, a strange position that is kind of a “goodwill ambassador” thang. Presumably he’ll make a fair number of trips around the world, meeting with regular people, teaching kids about baseba…