http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog drifter, adventurer, xenophile, writer. Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:34:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "The sea doesn’t care what your history is, or what your dreams and goals may entail.  It doesn’t care how much experience you have, or who is waiting for you back home. It simply exists. It is eternal." A disclaimer: Sailing across an ocean is one of the most iconic and ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2011/11/sailing-beneath-the-southern-cross/ When you ask a Haitian how they're doing they inevitably reply, "pa pi mal" which means not that bad in the local creole...not that bad because, you see, it can always be worse in Haiti. There's always someone who is worse off then they are, an idea which is both ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2010/06/pa-pi-mal-in-haiti/ The old man smiled, one last time. Battered by disease, soft wrinkled skin drooped lazily over his brittle skeleton and each breath he took exacted a heavy price. He knew he didn't have many of them left. His hair was gone, and the muscles of what was once an elite ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2010/01/last-words/ North. There’s always been something special about that particular direction in my life. It is the last direction, a final destination. North is the fiercest, the most independent…but also the most peaceful, the easiest to understand. South has always meant escape, a place I go to disappear. Jack Kerouac knew ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2009/05/north/ Ahhhh, the gypsy life. A filthy, gorgeous, addicting, enlightening, and above all else interesting lifestyle that has seen me stay in luxury villas, five star hotels, dingy hostels, tents, hammocks strung between palm trees, and friend's couches as I bounce around the country and the world. I can't really say ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2008/12/gypsy-tailwinds-take-me-home/ Dear Mr. Obama, I voted for you. Even registered early at the county courthouse, just like you told me to, blackening in that little multiple-choice bubble next to your name with determination and a pinch of pride. There was also some anxiety, similar to the feeling I get right before I ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2008/11/a-letter-to-senator-obama/ It’s the end of September. The weather is conflicted, a bit subdued, and utterly romantic. Outside the leaves are involved in their final encore of life, performing most beautifully right before they die with the promise of rebirth in the spring. Pensive like the weather and the leaves, I’m sitting inside ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2008/10/fall-at-the-shack/ I turned off my ipod, put my sunglasses in my pocket, and indulged in one of the purest, cheapest thrills available in New York City…I stood absolutely still. Standing there in the middle of rush hour I opened my eyes and ears, letting the energy of the city run through ... http://www.kittdoucette.com/blog/2008/09/standing-still-in-new-york-city/