An ode to Folkmoot and to Rolf
I was in New Zealand when Rolf Kaufman passed away a couple of weeks ago. The Folkmoot international dance festival that Rolf and many others made a signature event for 30 years in Western North Carolina helped feed in me what was already an intense interest in foreign travel, always searching for the shared compassion and humanity that is often the bedrock of international connections.
It’s out there, you just gotta look
I never got his name, but the New Zealander who had offered to fix one of my fellow traveler’s bicycles seemingly couldn’t resist commenting on American politics.
“You Americans are always bumbling around on the big stage, sometimes good and sometimes bad, and so we’re all just kind of looking at Trump and thinking this is just another phase,” he said, smiling, a twinkle in his blue eyes.
A different kind of power in New Zealand
When you think “politician,” what picture pops into your mind? In today’s world, regardless of party, it is likely a bald or gray-haired old man, fixated on power and money, loyal only to his corporate sponsors.
Enter Jacinda Ardern. Prime Minister of New Zealand. Elected at age 37 to lead her country. What kind of young woman could handle such a task, survive the opposition and pull her country together?
