Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
JR “Nexus” Russ is living up to his name. Christened Nexus on his first trip to the Burning Man festival, JR — an artist in Washington, DC — finds his professional and personal life increasingly at a nexus. He’s heavily involved in the city’s arts scene, but equally passionate about…
Eleanor Clift is a famous liberal reporter, perhaps best known to many American television viewers as one of the pundits on the weekly political talk show The McLaughlin Group. Although she’s still busy reporting these days writing for The Daily Beast, she took a few hours out of her schedule…
Cheryl Kagan would love a private life — but that’s not possible right now. That’s because she’s the Maryland state senator for district 17, covering Gaithersburg and Rockville. As she told me during a dinner interview, it’s a non-stop job that involves a very public life. That makes it difficult…
Bill and Laura Johnson live on the road. They spend more than half the year traveling in their motor home to various states, motivated only by what they think might be interesting. The couple, both in their 60s, told me that they love the potential of going to new places…
Doug Schantz doesn’t care for sports and doesn’t cook — but that didn’t stop him from following through on his dream of opening a gay sports bar in Washington, DC. Nellie’s Sports Bar has been open since 2007 and remains incredibly popular with a mixed gay and straight crowd, with…
Victor Pope Jr. can make you laugh in six seconds. That’s how long his comedy videos are on Vine, an app that lets users upload six-second clips of everything and anything from music performances to rants to comedy sketches. I met Victor for a late lunch in Arlington, Texas earlier…
Dave Hindman is a man of many careers. From the Air Force to work as a University of Maryland (UMD) lab technician, and from a stint teaching classes on car repair to his current work doing environmental permitting for federal agencies, major companies, and others, he has plenty of interesting…
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Listen to the tale of Michael Wood! He’s an award-winning town crier, keeping that ancient tradition of public proclamations alive. He’s traveled across England — and even to Hollywood, California — to share his unique art, as he told me during a dinner interview late last month….
Ines Verbeke is cycling through America. She was born in America but raised in Belgium, and long yearned to explore her country of birth. Taking a break from her career, she’s finally getting to see the States. Earlier this year, she flew across the Atlantic with a vague plan of…
Martin Dahinden is the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States. He’s also the 83rd stranger to dine with me for this site. His staff at the Swiss Embassy were incredibly generous to arrange an evening meal last week for Martin and me, taking place at the gorgeous Swiss Residence…