e-travels with e. trules

21/07/2024

Save the Date!

28/06/2024

What’s in a hat? you say.

How about an Emperor? An empire? An ambition, genius, and military strategy that changed history, the early 19th century, and the map of Europe?

Or what about these two smiling co-revolutionaries? Cuba’s Fidel Castro in his iconic military patrol cap, and Che Guevera, his compadre, in his black beret with silver star? Both defining an era of “anti-Americanism” in our own hemisphere, and a near nuclear disaster with the failed U.S. Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961, and the soon-to-follow Cuban Missile Crisis by which JFK and the USSR’s Nikita Khrushchev barely “saved the world” with a thirteen-day negotiation in October, 1962.

Speaking of which, equally iconic: John Fitzgerald Kennedy in a top hat - not the first politician to wear one (Abraham Lincoln, Uncle Sam, Winston Churchill,

Woodrow Wilson, FDR) - this photo of the Kennedys, with Jackie in her chic 1960s pillbox hat, not only defined “Camelot”, the storybook era of American politics and culture before JFK was assassinated in November, 1963, after which we all lost faith in politicians and government, but which even today, recaptures it, with the image of two idealized personalities in two perfectly iconic hats.

14/06/2024

I’m here in Santa Fe, and I guess I'm someone important, because… I hear on the news/internet that my friend, Mohadras, has made a public statement that - he’d like to speak to me - by phone - about the situation in the Middle East. Not that either of us are central players - no Bibi, Biden, Sinwar, or Haniyeh - but we’re still two wily and wizened Jewish and Muslim coots who are world-renowned and respected in our own fields, who now somehow stand for an old-school, warm and fuzzy “Peace in the Middle East”.

So… I pick up the phone and call Mohadras directly to complete his outreach and I say,

"Why don’t we just get together and talk?"

"Good idea old Boy, he says. Where?"

"Let’s just meet in New York, ok?"

It’s 3:33 a.m. I just woke up from the first dream I can remember that hasn’t been a gut-wrenching, pyschic-rending, soul-eating nightmare… in about … forever. Because you see, that’s the norm… about six out of seven nights… after having these oh-so-pleasant, Santa Fe pickleball-playin...

19/04/2024

Our Son Turns 17!
And We Go to the Circus Do Portugal

https://trules.substack.com/p/our-son-turns-17

"It was the Cinco de Mayo. May 5, 2015… when the tiny-boned, 50-pound Indonesian immigrant boy came squinty-eyed, up from the bowels of the long dark international tunnel in Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX. He was with his “Bou Ani” (his father Nanda’s younger sister, therefore his “aunt” in Indonesian), pulling his navy blue trolley suitcase that looked far bigger than he was. It and he were an awkward “misfit” there at LAX, arriving on a Mexican holiday, rather than on an Indonesian one, since he was born and raised in Medan, Sumatra, just like his “Bou”, my wife, Surya. He was eight years old, looking fragile and overwhelmed - at the first day of the rest of his life… in America."

And We Go to the Circus Do Portugal

22/03/2024

https://trules.substack.com/p/trules-deceased-parents-come-to-visit

I call Warren Beatty, producer and director of the film, Heaven Can Wait (originally Here Comes Mr. Jordan, 1941), who tells me exactly how to teleport bodies and souls from the afterlife, back and forth to Santa Fe. With just a little help from a guardian angel, and her supervisor, Mr. Jordan, I can choose the exact day and time to have Roz and Joe arrive at the small, nearby Santa Fe Airport, as opposed to the usual Albuquerque Airport, over an hour away, which most out of towners have to really hassle with.

05/03/2024

I previously published this piece on May 3, 2014, the first day I announced my “semi-retirement” from USC (the University of Southern California where I had been a theater professor for almost 3 decades).

I am re-posting it today as a tribute to my great friend and tennis partner/coach of just about the same 3 decades, who just recently passed away from a stroke, after living on the hard-scrabble streets of South Central LA, as a trickster, rabble-rouser, and keen-witted survivor.

NOTE: I previously published this piece on May 3, 2014, the first day I announced my “semi-retirement” from USC (the University of Southern California where I had been a theater professor for almost 3 decades). I am re-posting it today as a tribute to my great friend and tennis partner/coach of ...

23/02/2024

The decade of the 2010s began in the chaotic wake of the 2008 global financial crisis and ended with the impeachment of a U.S. president. The continued explosion of social media fueled mass protest movements like “Occupy Wall Street”, “Black Lives Matter”, and “Me Too”, bringing millions of people together around the globe in pursuit of common objectives. Britain saw a new generation of royals emerge, countries around the world passed new laws legalizing same-sex marriage, President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives, and a beloved baseball team, the Chicago Cubs, ended a 108-year-long dry spell by winning a World Series.

Me? I started the decade with all things in order, the 3 pillars of my life still sturdily in place: the oldest of the three, my USC theater professor job heading into its 24th pedagogical year, the second oldest pillar, my home of 17 years (even though I never owned it) was still holding my hillside palace in place, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Hollywood Sign from the hills of Echo Park, and the third pillar, my unlikely marriage to Surya, an Indonesian woman 31 years my junior, was as secure as ever, going on its 7th year, 9th if you counted the year she actually joined me in 2001.

Of course, if I looked more closely, perhaps I could have seen some cracks in the pillars, some fissures in the masonry: things like another battle or two with my bullying Dean at USC, or an unannounced and hostile rent raise at “Lucretia Gardens”, or maybe even an angry and solo trip back to Sumatra by my wife to visit her family while she was depressed about her unemployment during “the recession”. But hey, who wants to look at cracks and fissures?

2010 to the Present... Finally!

15/12/2023

Having just dropped off his Indonesian wife and son for their 3-week visit back to Sumatra for The Holidays, Ol' "Pak Trules", the former foot-loose and fancy-free world traveler, will be “home alone” in Santa Fe or Christmas and New Years,

Belated Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas!

02/12/2023

The PODCAST, "e-travels with e. trules"!

is STILL LIVE on ITunes:

http://erictrules.com/welcome-to-e-travels-with-e-trules/

I'd really appreciate your listening (with earbuds or nice headphones, if u can), subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show on iTunes. It will make a big difference in Apple's stats.

Thanks a lot.

Made possible with a USC Capstone grant and support from Philip Allen and the Sound Design Program at USC's School of Dramatic Arts. With original music by Amanda Nicole Yamate and sound design by Alysha Bermudez. Produced by Harry Duran at FullCast.

iTunes Start Video If you would like to show your support for the Podcast, please SUBSCRIBE on ITunes, and consider leaving a rating and review. This will not only increase the Podcast’s visibility and popularity, but it will help spread the word to potential listeners looking to travel with us. A...

25/11/2023

Sometimes, things CAN CHANGE!!!!

Remembering a Time When Things Were Not So Sweet

21/06/2023

Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain said: "Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride."

08/03/2023

Flying in the Colca Canyon, near Arequipa, Peru. Known for its soaring "condors".

Also from South America - ECUADOR - "Love and the Devil's Nose", comparing a shaky marriage to a switch-backing train ride to "The Devil's Nose"!

https://etravelswithetrules.com/blog/love-and-the-devils-nose/

Listen Now Welcome to "e-travels with e. trules" Like to travel? Like to listen to travel tales from well off the beaten path? Well then, you've come to the right place... "e-travels with e.trules" is a new, personal, idiosyncratic, and literary podcast created by Eric Trules, a longtime Huffington....

21/02/2023

Some of you may not know SERVAS.
But you may very well want to if you'd like to enjoy traveling this wide world for free and making friends all over this lonely planet.
"Servas", an Open Door to Travel the Lonely Planet... for Free!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/servas-an-open-door-to-travel_b_6713902

13/02/2023

Welcome to Episode 5 of the "e-travels with. e. trules" Podcast:,
"Love and the Devil's Nose"

http://erictrules.com/episode5

Aluasi, Ecuador, 2003. The just married Trules travel to Machu Picchu, Peru, and up "Los Avenidas de los Volcanos" in central Ecuador.

Trules compares his marriage to a bumpy 3rd world train ride: on the train, off the train, false starts, missed connections, switchbacks, breakdowns, commitments, highs, lows, discoveries, adventures, revelations, transformation....

With original music by Amanda Nicole Yamate, sound design by Alysha Bermudez, produced by Harry Duran at Fullcast. With a USC Capstone grant at the USC School of Dramatic Arts.

Listen Now Where's the Where? Alausi, Ecuardor. 2003. I married for the first time at age 55. Also in 2003. I married an Indonesian girl from Sumatra who I met in Bali, who was 31 years younger than I was and who spoke almost no English. Go figure, huh? But in the summer of 2003, a few months after....

21/12/2022

Bye Bye, Echo Park!

I first moved here 21 years ago. To the hills of Echo Park.

28/09/2022

The PODCAST just passed 30,000 Downloads and Listens.

https://erictrules.com/welcome

Thank you fellow travelers and podcast junkies!!!!

18/03/2022

Wow! The "e-travels with e. trules" PODCAST just passed 29,000 downloads/listens!

Thank you, thank you, friends, fans, listeners, and fellow e-travelers!

In this very-persistent time of worldwide pandemic and contentious vaccine delivery, the podcast has been an entertaining, virtual substitute for the real thing itself -- TRAVEL!

Listen, particularly, to the the country-specific travelogues, where I immerse myself into off-the beaten-path environments, with soundscapes designed by Alysha Bemudez, music composed by Amanda Nicole Yamate, engineered by Scott Barber at the Barbershop Sound Studio, and produced by Harry Duran of Podcast Junkies.

You can start here: https://erictrules.com/welcome

Let me know any feedback you have.

And let's shrink this world, one story at a time..............

You can also READ, remember that? On my BLOG:
https://etravelswithetrules.com/blog

21/02/2022

02/02/2022

Wow! The "e-travels with e. trules" PODCAST just passed 29,000 downloads/listens!

Thank you, thank you, friends, fans, listeners, and fellow e-travelers!
In this very-persistent time of worldwide pandemic and contentious vaccine delivery, the podcast has been an entertaining, virtual substitute for the real thing itself -- TRAVEL!

Listen, particularly, to the the country-specific travelogues, where I immerse myself into off-the beaten-path environments, with soundscapes designed by Alysha Bermudez, music composed by Amanda Nicole Yamate, engineered by Scott Barber at the Barbershop Sound Studio, and produced by Harry Duran of Podcast Junkies.

You can start here: https://erictrules.com/welcome

Let me know any feedback you have.

And let's shrink this world, one story at a time..............

You can also READ, remember that? On my BLOG:

https://etravelswithetrules.com/blog

29/01/2022

Wow! The "e-travels with e. trules" PODCAST just passed 29,000 downloads/listens!

Thank you, thank you, friends, fans, listeners, and fellow e-travelers!

In this very-persistent time of worldwide pandemic and contentious vaccine delivery, the podcast has been an entertaining, virtual substitute for the real thing itself -- TRAVEL!

Listen, particularly, to the the country-specific travelogues, where I immerse myself into off-the beaten-path environments, with soundscapes designed by Alysha Bermudez, music composed by Amanda Nicole Yamate, engineered by Scott Barber at the Barbershop Sound Studio, and produced by Harry Duran of Podcast Junkies.

You can start here: https://erictrules.com/welcome

Let me know any feedback you have.
And let's shrink this world, one story at a time..............

You can also READ, remember that? On my BLOG:
http://www.etravelswithetrules.com/blog/

17/01/2022

The OLD DOG has FINALLY learned a NEW TRICK - from MY NIECE!!!

I've created a PATREON PAGE - to which you can make a MONTHLY DONATION.'

HERE IT IS: https://www.patreon.com/erictrules

Any amount is greatly appreciated!!!

12/01/2022

12/01/2022

03/12/2021

Letter to Mr. Duc Ho, August, 2000, Dalat, Vietnam:
"August 8, 2000
Mr. Duc Ho
Dalat, VIETNAM
Hello, Mr. Duc--
Remember me? The tired, but wildly-curious, American on the back of your motor bike? I guess you will when you see some photos.

Well, it's been almost 3 months since our trip together, and I just got back to Los Angeles. After Dalat, I continued traveling in Vietnam to Hoi An, where I bought & shipped home 16 kilos of hand-tailored tuxedos, shirts, suits, and coats. Then to Hue and Hanoi, where I shipped home another 12 kilos of Vietnamese water puppets, tapestries, and traditional Vietnamese souvenirs. Then to Halong Bay in the North - after which I flew to Vientiane and Luang Prabang in Laos, took the slow boat up the mighty Mekong River to the northeast Thai border, visited arts & craftsy Chiang Rai & Chiang Mai, went back to busy Bangkok, flew to modern Islamic Kuala Lumpur, traveled south in East Indian Malaysia & to Borneo, flew to touristy and tribal Bali and back to Malaysia, and finally traveled up through the famous beaches of Southern Thailand back again to Bangkok. It was quite a long and adventurous trip.

Of course, a big highlight of the whole trip were the 5 days I spent with you on the back of your motorbike out in the central highlands. You were a 2-wheeled, moving encyclopedia about your country, its history, its geography, its people, and its beauty. I learned so much about simple things like planting, growing, and harvesting - rice, coffee, and pepper - about raising silk worms, and about more complicated things like Agent Orange, the "American War", and "re-education camps", and I really appreciated your telling me about your long-suffering personal experience during those painful times. I didn't fight in what we call here, the "Vietnam War", but you educated me about the time when Americans were dropping bombs on your country, marrying your women, and interfering in your civil war.

One thing I especially thank you for - is your introducing me to the joy of motor biking. For after my 5 day trip with you, when you also introduced me to the caffeinated powers of Red Bull to prevent me from falling off the back of your bike, I took the risk to rent my own bike whenever I could for the rest of my trip. And after my first terrifying ride to the Champa ruins at My Son near Hoi An, driving 3 hours in the rain, with frightening, horn-honking trucks passing me every few seconds, I learned I could survive and handle just about anything. On the road, off the road, in northern Thailand, in Penang, Malaysia, again in Bali, these were some of the free-est, most inspiring times I've ever had - "out in it" - in the countryside, in nature, being part of the daily lives of ordinary people - off the well-traveled, over-crowded, tourist route.

So -- thanks so much for that introduction.

I hope you are doing well. That business is good and your family is doing well too. I sure would like to bring you here to Los Angeles - no one takes such good care of me here as you did for those 5 days in Vietnam, so I may just have to bring a young Balinese girl here to America to see if someone else can. No, I haven't forgotten about young Nguyen, the pretty Vietnamese girl I fell in love with in the tribal village near Dalat, but I think it would be hard to have her learn English and to bring her to Los Angeles.

I don't know when I'll be back to Vietnam -- but you never know. For now, just thanks again -- and please write me back....

Best regards,

Your American friend, Eric Trules

Welcome to the podcast: https://erictrules.com/welcome