If some brave soul has the courage to put a stake through the heart of Washington’s regressive tax code this Halloween, we’ll remember it this way. — Like most tragic monsters, Washington state’s regressive tax code was inadvertently spawned through the best of intentions. In 1933, a Depression-weary electorate overwhelmingly passed a statewide income tax to ensure prosperity and economic growth for all Washington’s residents. The State Supreme Court then stepped in, and proceeded to trample the…

A few days into my time in Sri Lanka, I stood by the side of the road in Mirissa, feeling the sweat creep down my spine, soaking my tank top around the straps where my pack clung to my frame. The gutter next to the bus stop was brimming with…

Sitting in the garden of the Dhamma Niri retreat center one morning after breakfast, gazing through the palm trees as the Burmese sun climbed their branches, I felt a rumble in my gut. It’s sort of par for the course to have consistent, mild food poisoning during travel, and I…

I started my journey seeking solitude. I started out from San Francisco and arrived in Tokyo sleep deprived gazing into the frigid sea out of the flight window on a crystalline day. The airport in San Francisco had been the easy part. I’d rolled through the motions, checking in at…