Welcome Back Hardman

I have been back in the United States for about a month after spending an entire year in Peru teaching and training journalists. For those of you who have spent time abroad, especially living in a second language, the re-entry is kind of tough. One of the things I have noticed is that I miss physical contact. In Peru you get lots of hugs and kisses...as one friend pointed out after I instinctively kissed his new girlfriend whom I had never met on the cheek, if I did that to the wrong girl in the US I might get my ass kicked.

Welcome back.

I also miss speaking Spanish and, strangely enough, I think I miss being in the minority. In Peru people stared at me wherever I went, my red hair made it tough to hide. I got used to it and now I realize I might have even liked being the grey duck.

Sure you get yelled at on the street and people try to charge you double for a taxi, but at least you exist and one way or another people have an immediate opinion of you. Gringo. Colorado. Yankee. Zanahoria.
So now that I am back, and not the center of the universe again, I'd like to put my other favorite and less egotistical past time to work.

Observing other people.

Even before journalism entered my life I had a knack for picking up on details that was a bit overwhelming. I kept track of things like who was smoking in my 7th grade class, and whose bikes were new and whose were outdated(mine was orange with a banana seat, a gear shift that was meant to mimic a clutch, and some tassles. It was a hand me down and I left it unlocked as often as I could in hopes of somebody stealing it so I could make a case for a new one).

There I go on me again.

So the idea is to highlight interesting,

extraordinary characters who are heroes in their own right.

As my good friend Greg once reflected after walking across the entirety of Japan over the course of 3 years, "there are amazing people out there, doing amazing things, and nobody knows about them, nobody is patting them on the back, yet they keep on keeping on."

So this blog is a sort of digital toast to these intrepid folks. I am watching...and listening...and now writing about you.

J. Hardman