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SLOVENIA: THE FOOD
It’s certainly been an odd start to October. I think every day this month, it has felt like it was July. I believe the news reported that we haven’t had this many 80-degree days in a row in October in...
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SOLOMON ISLANDS: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
One of my biggest criticisms from my high school is that it seems like we spent a lot of time studying the American Revolution and the Civil War in history classes. Almost every single year. Those are...
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SOLOMON ISLANDS: ART AND LITERATURE
The culture of the Solomon Islands is a montage of many different ethnic groups, mostly Melanesian group along with some Polynesian cultural aspects as well. Most of these cultural traditions have been...
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SOLOMON ISLANDS: MUSIC AND DANCE
I'm not sure why I typically think of panpipes as being an Andean thing in South America. But truth be told, panpipes are used in a variety of cultures all over the world. Panpipe orchestras are a...
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SOLOMON ISLANDS: THE FOOD
It's been a whirlwind weekend to wind down my kids' fall break. The weather is finally acting like fall, and I'm grateful we're in the final weeks before Election Day. Those ads are getting super...
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SOMALIA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
If you've ever seen the movie or read the book Black Hawk Down, you'll know about Somalia's civil war and political struggles of the early 1990s. I watched it when it first came out. I'm not super huge...
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SOMALIA: ART AND LITERATURE
The Somali people have been creating art since they arrived in the area. Evidence of rock art has been found in many areas, especially in the northern parts of Somalia. They were probably some of the...
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SOMALIA: MUSIC AND DANCE
In most Western music traditions, they use a heptatonic scale. In other words, a seven-note scale. However, much of Somalian music is based on the five-note scale called the pentatonic scale (imagine...
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SOMALIA: THE FOOD
We made it through another election. There were some disappointments, but there were some surprises. Quite a few women, people of color, and LGBTQ candidates won their office – not to mention that...
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SOUTH AFRICA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
The terrors of apartheid. Nelson Mandela. Exotic animals on the veldt. Diamond mining and the De Beers company (don't get me started on them). Zulu warriors. South Africa may bring other things to...
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SOUTH AFRICA: ART AND LITERATURE
As the Khoisan and San people moved into the southernmost parts of Africa where the Bantu and Nguni people came before them, they brought along their own art forms and culture. The earliest nomadic...
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SOUTH AFRICA: MUSIC AND DANCE
South Africa has a complex musical history, ranging from the traditions of its many different ethnic groups to its merge with various European styles. And in many cases, it includes the mixing old...
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SOUTH AFRICA: THE FOOD
Thanksgiving is out of the way, and now I’m just trying to make it through the Christmas season. It’s admittedly not my favorite season, but at least there are cookies and peppermint mocha drinks to...
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SOUTH KOREA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
After college, I was exploring what I would do. I ended up graduating with a non-teaching music degree, so I was limited on choices. But a bachelor’s degree is a bachelor’s degree, right? As a longtime...
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SOUTH KOREA: ART AND LITERATURE
For the most part, the art of both North Korea and South Korea share a common history. Granted, different kingdoms throughout its history had their own identity and styles, but generally speaking, it...
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SOUTH KOREA: MUSIC AND DANCE
Evidence of music in Korea dates back nearly a thousand years. A historical text dating around 1145AD mentioned two different stringed instruments. And like many cultures, their traditional music was...
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SOUTH KOREA: THE FOOD
This is the last country of 2018. I can’t believe there’s only about a year and a half left of this blog project. Clearly, I’ve run this blog longer than I’ve ever held a job (which is probably sad to...
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SOUTH SUDAN: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
When I started this blog in 2012, I used an existing list I made of the countries that were UN members. And about a year into it, I realized I had missed one. The country of South Sudan gained its...
View ArticleWorldly Rise Year End Stats -- 2018 Edition
I always look forward to doing these posts. I like to see how far I’ve come and what I actuallydid this year. This is such a long project, so it’s nice to reflect. And… 2019 will be my last full year...
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SOUTH SUDAN: ART AND LITERATURE
Since the earliest days of people stepping foot in the area of South Sudan, art has been a part of the culture here. Many of these early arts include carving (both in wood and in stone), weaving...
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