The Casey Lartigue Show!

When people ask me if I have read a certain book that I indeed have read, I often hesitate to confirm. Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" or a book about dating is a different experience at age 16 compared to 36 or 56. I first read the late Paul Fussell's provocative collection of essays " Thank God for the Atom Bomb " as a graduate student. When I reread it a few years later, I noticed that I had completely skipped the chapter about traveling. I am a " digital immigrant " who still prefers printed books, newspapers and articles so I can markup the text. I didn't mark a single thing in that travel chapter the first time around. The second time around, years later, I wondered how I could have missed Fussell's profundity. In particular, I appreciated his point distinguishing among travelers, tourists and explorers. (" There's No Place Like Home," Feb 12, 2013 ). What had changed? Me. I grew up in Texas and Massachusetts, but h...

Dearest Casey, During your current trip to the USA to give a series of speeches in New York, D.C., Tennessee and California, you were delightfully blindsided by a job offer that would pay you more than three times as much as you are now making in South Korea. A few years ago, after a health scare, you began reflecting on your life and decided that you would only do the things that you wanted to do. People who try to pressure you to do things you don’t want to do have a 100% chance of failing. As you tell such people: "I don’t have to eat everything put on my plate.” People who give advice you reject are told: "I promise, I won’t stop you from taking your own advice.” You value every moment that you are alive, and will enjoy the rest of your life on your own terms. For more than two years, you have been focused on helping North Korean refugees , typically using your own funds. You are lucky that Freedom Factory and the Atlas Network both came through with suppo...