I wrote a piece about traveling with my son to Sudan. I was hoping it would be like the trip I took with his sister when she was younger, but it turned out quite differently. The essay was published by Your Teen Magazine, a publication for parents of teenagers. Bonding With My Son In Africa?…
My friend David is a great archaeologist and I remember his clothes always being filthy. I think those things are related. Remember that old Monty Python skit where old men argue about who had a tougher life growing up? Conversations like that happen on digs all the time, and apparently even after digs. Reading about…
This winter, I was back in Sudan and had a videocamera with me. We’re finishing up the El Kurru International Archaeological Project and the dig director, Geoff, asked me to make a short film about cultural heritage in El Kurru village. To do that, I took camera and editing classes from my local cable access…
The contents of this post first appeared in my monthly email newsletter. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. On Take Your Child To Work Day, Cognoscenti published my essay I Took My 11-Year-Old Daughter to Work… In Sudan. Great headline! I…
Turns out, if you Google “Pee in the Sahara” you may find the story of Mauro Prosperi, an ultramarathoner who went off course in Morocco and ended up in Algiera (183 miles off course). Or, you could find my short article on a bus stop in Sudan and the “facilities” provided there. You can read…
For Take Your Child to Work Day, 2017, Cognoscenti published I Took My 11-Year-Old Daughter To Work … In Sudan: Last year, I took my daughter to one of my part-time jobs: to northern Sudan, where she accompanied me as I worked as an archaeologist. No, I’m not crazy, and yes, her mother knew (and we…
In January, the Boston Globe Magazine published an essay I wrote about my friendship with Mahmoud, a Sudanese archaeologist, and a greeting I had never seen before, the Sudanese Hug. The basic gesture is a right handed pat on another person’s left shoulder while they do the same to you. The Sudanese Hug is more…
A week or so ago, the Boston Globe Magazine published an essay I wrote about the “Sudanese Hug,” a greeting I learned while visiting that nation. There was a great response to the piece and I felt like I’ve been learning on the fly how to navigate social media (especially Twitter) as a freelance writer…
Jack Cheng, PhD 