Travel – Page 7 – Where’s Fran?

Roaming in BC and DC

Fr. Bruce Roby, his niece Kina Rosario, Fr. Gus, and myself.

Ever since my return from Micronesia at the beginning of this month, I?ve continued roaming–but closer to home.? Just last week there were short trips to DC and BC.? The latter was a weekend visit to Boston College to work with new Jesuit volunteers destined to begin two years of service in Micronesia, Tanzania and Ecuador.? What do you tell young college graduates with stars in their eyes and a little apprehension in their hearts at what they will face?? Why not tell them what always served me well?? Hang on for a great ride, but Read More

My Hot Homecoming: Return to MIcronesia

It?s hard to explain to others how comforting it is to be uncomfortably hot.? Since I landed on Yap three days ago I?ve been sweating constantly.? What a relief!? It doesn?t hurt that I?ve had a 5 PM basketball game set up every afternoon, courtesy of Dickson Tiwelfil, the young man from Woleai who will entering the Jesuits later this summer.? I knew that I?ve been homesick, despite the wonderful people I?ve worked and recreated with in the US over the past two years, but I never reflected on how Read More

A Little Time in the Desert

Not in the spiritual desert, but in Nevada–the home of rattlesnakes, cactus juice and casinos aplenty.? In response to a request to look through the papers of Chuck Helstrom, a former TT police head who died a few months ago, I spent a few days in Las Vegas with friends.? Browsing through his files was a flip through 20 years of island history during the 1970s and 80s: heroin drug busts on Saipan, investigations into the practice of ?crazy eight? handcuffing in Chuuk, death threats against certain congressmen for voting the wrong way, intrigues among the HiCom staff, and so much more. I?d almost forgotten how thrilling those days were.? How many times since then have police been sent into a village at dawn and kicked down doors to get men wanted by the law? Read More

Category - Travel