Welcome! Come in and explore.

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The collapse of Communism in 1989 had a profound effect on our family’s life.  In 1990 my wife, Suzi, and I took our sons Brian and Kevin to Prague to be a part of the final act of the Velvet Revolution, the elections that put a stamp on Czechoslovak democracy.  The night the Czechoslovak elections were certified I sat in a campground outside Prague and wrote a letter to my family on a yellow legal pad illuminated by a flashlight.  That was the first of almost a thousand weekly letters, sent to an expanding list as family members shared them with others who asked to be added to the list.

That night in a campground outside Prague I experienced my midlife crisis and decided that I had to become a part of this history.  It led me to quit my job in radio and to become an aid volunteer.  The volunteer job became a paying job that led to more than two decades of helping develop independent media throughout the former Communist world and later the Arab world.

Friends kept telling me that I should write a book or at least publish the letters.  But organizing the ideas scattered across a thousand letters is just too daunting.  Now that I am “semi-retired” (meaning that I no longer live abroad but still consult on development projects) I decided to post a few of those letters, along with a lot of pictures from my old and decaying website.

And then there is the second transition.  A personal transition from work to retirement.  This blog reflects that transition as I  add more posts from life in Sitka and from cruising, which we are beginning to enjoy.

 

©2017 Rich McClear, All Rights Reserved

rich@mcclear.net

 

7 thoughts on “Welcome! Come in and explore.

  1. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked
    submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing
    all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say excellent blog!

  2. Hello there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace
    group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content.
    Please let me know. Cheers

  3. We absolutely love your blog and find nearly all of
    your post’s to be what precisely I’m looking for. Does
    one offer guest writers to write content in your case?
    I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on most
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  4. I have not considered guest posts. However, if you want to submit comments that can be a way to post.

  5. I have no problem sharing for non commercial use. I didn’t know My Space was still working.

  6. My blog was migrating to a new server and it may have gotten lost. If you still want to try you can.

  7. What an excellent “diamond in the rough” to stumble upon. I can’t exactly explain, what lead me down this rabbit hole, but here I am, 8 years from the future (compared to the the most recent commentary). Putting to bed rumors that you’re not a man from U.N.C.L.E but in fact, a writer, journalist, and continuing to be an ever evolving surprise

    Well done

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