the grand national drill team charges through the arena. needless to say, patriotism is a big part of the rodeo. jingoism seems to be at a minimum, however.

Even here in the United States, there are a myriad of cultures people need to learn about and understand in order to build a truly global community. The problem is, and I'm as guilty of this as anyone, we far too often fail to see the good things of cultures we're not a part of.

I chose this photograph because I'm basically a city type of person. I grew up in a middle-sized Midwestern town, but I've spent most of my adult life living in one city or another. But having known all sorts of people from all walks of life, I learned a long time ago that there are great people out their whose ideals may not be my own.

When I look at this photograph, I'm reminded of an old Chief I sometimes partied with while I was in the Coast Guard. He was a strange combination of cook and cowboy and story-teller swiftboat veteran of the Vietnam War, but most importantly he was (and is) a great friend. He taught me how to ride a horse in Kodiak, Alaska before retiring to Portland, Oregon, and as we rode he'd tell me stories of Vietnam, his wife, and a few lessons he'd had to learn the hard way.

This wouldn't normally be remarkable, except that I was a young man at the time who preferred the city and heavy metal, and he was an aging cowboy who'd seen and done it all, and also happened to be a black man.

Road to Torkham, Khyber Agency, Pakistan

I chose this photograph as the first of this series because I wanted to remind myself of what life could be like. I'm sitting here in my comfortable home, listening to music, and drinking away my sorrows of the Obama loss in the Pennsylvania primary. When I wake up in the morning, I'll watch my niece for a few hours before heading out to go shopping for some new pants.

I was kinda dreading the getting up early part of tomorrow, so this is a reminder of how lucky I actually am.

Here's a snippet of what the photographer had to say:

The road connecting Peshawar with Torkham, the border point with Afghanistan snakes through the Kyber Agency mountains. The Khyber Agency is a Federally Administered Tribal Area, of which there are 7 in Pakistan. These Tribal Areas are home to the fierce Pashtun tribes who only partially came under British influence pre-1947. The tribesmen resisted British conquest, who would then punish the tribes with their bigger and better equipped armies.

These tribal areas border Afghanistan and the people here share linguistic, cultural and religious ties with the vast majority of Afghanistan. Until today the number of Pakistani Government laws in effect here ae minimal. Interference can often lead to a backlash. It does not mean that the people here are not patriotic Pakistani's or anarchists but their cultural code of Pashtunwali is what rules here. Tribesmen reach a decision based on a Jirga - a tribal council - it is quite a democratic way of dealing with issues. The people here on the whole are very hospitable and truthful. Do not be suprised to see men with weaponry here - the Pashtun tribes men love weaponry and as women wear jewellery, the men wear weapons.