The state capital of New Jersey was only a small town during the American Revolutionary War when General George Washington defeated the British and their mercenaries several times and lodged his troops briefly in the barracks. It is still a small, sleepy town today with the husks of 20th century Read more
For someone who used to work at UNOG, the tour is more of the same bullshit. Unfortunately, it’s the only way to get public access to a different UN office. The New York location is political with the General Assembly and Security Council as its most powerful organs. The Geneva Read more
Everyone should be able to enjoy art—focus on the word enjoy. Some art museums started banning photography in the late 2000s when smartphones started having quality cameras to boost gift shop revenue and protect delicate works from automatic flashes, but the decision has been reversed in the mid-2010s partly from Read more
The Museum of Modern Art in New York is severely overrated. Don’t go, don’t waste your time, there is better art out there available with more dignified treatment with more democratic access. Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum is free and has a better viewing experience than MoMa, the Art Institute of Read more
The first time I saw this aircraft carrier docked at New York City I was driving along 12th Avenue heading downtown. It wasn’t until my third visit to the city that I got to experience how deeply mismanaged this attraction is. The security procedures are only for show, the staff Read more
Underneath the two square waterfalls where the twin towers once stood in New York City lies the memorial to the 3,000 who died. It sits in the original basement space of the towers with fragments of the mangled structure on display. I had previously seen one such fragment in Albany Read more
Baltimore doesn’t have a history museum or a municipal museum, but its growth has been so closely tied to the industrialization of food, machines, and trade that the museum of industry might as well be its history museum. In the mid 20th century, Baltimore had plenty of vegetable, meat, and Read more
Their use of a side-by-side comparison of perspectives confronts the Manifest Destiny narrative of American expansionism. Start your visit at the fourth floor and work your way down to get state-by-state and issue-by-issue highlights of what went wrong at every step of the way. The second and third floors are Read more
After looking at galleries of old world art and last century American art, it’s nice to be in a space where the building’s physical layout makes sense. The logical donut shape makes it easy to navigate between galleries and levels. If you’re not a big fan of modern art like Read more
The galleries are placed in chronological order from the lobby to the far end, but most visitors will do a loop at the back of the building to minimize distance walked. This means the Chinese art galleries go in reverse order from gallery 13’s Qing Dynasty vases to gallery 19’s Read more