PinnedRandal Joy ThompsonSpinach is not always SpinachI fell in love with saag paneer and garlic naan in Patiala, Punjab, India in 1976. My mother-in-law prepared the saag paneer with fresh…Oct 26, 20231Oct 26, 20231
PinnedRandal Joy ThompsonComing Full CircleI ate my final meal of Kontomire and plantains the day before I left Ghana for the last time in September 2023. I was lunching with part of…Oct 16, 2023Oct 16, 2023
Randal Joy ThompsonChanging a Family Tradition“Randi, Is it ok if I die?” my 53 year old brother Scott asked me quietly as I kept vigil by his bedside after the doctors told him he was…Jan 13Jan 13
Randal Joy ThompsonObsessionForty years after Troy left me, he sent me a photo of himself with a heart monitor strapped to his bare chest and a salacious recounting of…Dec 26, 2023Dec 26, 2023
Randal Joy ThompsonFrench ReposeI flew from Sarajevo, where I had completed my work on a research project, to Barcelona in October 2015 to attend the International…Dec 24, 2023Dec 24, 2023
Randal Joy ThompsonEssaouriaAs I walked into the medina in Essaouria, I felt the familiar warmth of the ancient walls welcoming and comforting me, a feeling of being…Dec 24, 2023Dec 24, 2023
Randal Joy ThompsonBugsBugs breeding on me give me the heebie-jeebies. They itch like crazy too, an itch that no amount of scratching can squelch. I never…Dec 23, 2023Dec 23, 2023
Randal Joy Thompson“All the Lonely People, Where do They All Come From?”[1]Eleanor Rigby “lives in a dream, waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for?” the Beatles…Dec 19, 2023Dec 19, 2023
Randal Joy ThompsonDinner in BaghdadEvery waking minute of every day is spent praying to stay alive when one is working and living in a war zone. As least this was my…Dec 19, 2023Dec 19, 2023
Randal Joy ThompsonSelf-Service or Service Your-Self?When stores started installing self-checkouts in the late 1980’s, I swore that I would never use them. I refused to work for these…Sep 10, 2023Sep 10, 2023