Bloody Mary’s California Tour

New Orleans-based voodoo priestess “Bloody” Mary Millan is heading to California. From August 10th through 17th, Mary — my 21st dining companion — will be visiting San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz. She’s appearing at festivals, book signings, a paranormal conference and more. She’s also available for private voodoo consultations….

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Build Wetlands, Not Walls

New Orleans-based t-shirt company Storyville is getting political. The company, run by couple Josh and Natalie Harvey, has just launched a new range of t-shirts and tank tops (for adults and children) with the logo “Build Wetlands, Not Walls.” In an email announcing the new design, Storyville said, “With some…

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It’s Only Taken More Than A Decade…

…but here’s a somewhat new site design for Dining With Strangers. After launching the site in late 2008 the layout has pretty much stayed the same the entire time. Now, thanks to the joys of WordPress and the free themes available, I’m able to make it look a little nicer….

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Proud Strangers

The events in Orlando have touched me deeply. In the eight years that I’ve been doing this website, I’ve met many people (90 as of today), and several of them are gay. I’m proud to have met them all. Last week’s tragedy makes it more important than ever that the…

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Switzerland’s Culinary Footprint

Apologies for the lack of updates. More interviews are in the works, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s an update on a stranger I met last year. Martin Dahinden, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States — and the 82nd stranger I’ve met for dinner — was interviewed recently…

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Interview 89: Supper With A State Senator

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…

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Enter The Spirit Realm

New Orleans-based voodoo priestess “Bloody” Mary Millan — the 21st dining stranger — has revamped her website and unveiled a new blog, video series, and much more. Her website, Bloody Mary’s Tours, featured details on all of the above as well as personal tours around the Big Easy where she…

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Living With Bipolar Disorder

Comedian Victor Pope Jr. is best known for hilarious six-second skits on the app Vine and longer sketches on his YouTube page, which he’s been updating frequently. But last month Victor — the 86th person featured on Dining With Strangers — released a much more personal video about living with…

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Interview 88: Life On The Road

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…

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Crying Out Loud

Town crier Michael Wood — the 84th stranger I met — took part earlier this month in an attempt to set the world record for the World’s Loudest Crier. Click here for some details on the competition, which was part of broader celebrations to celebrate the reformation of the East…

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