Owlspotting

Originally published December 2004 in Vox Magazine. === The Intercontinental Divide I had not seen my mother in 314 days since we parted outside her apartment in Targu-Mures, Romania. But on the night of June 4, when she burst through the door of a New Orleans hotel room for our reunion, it seemed as though […]

And I will hang my head, hang my head low And I will hang my head, hang my head low (The crane wife 3) I was never one to appreciate music for production value, innovation, legacy and all the other attributes of “great legends.” I am of a more simple mind. If it moves me, […]

On Wednesday, Starbucks opened its first store in Romania. Regardless of whether you view the Seattle chain as the incarnation of evil or as a savior of the coffee-hungry world, this is big news for Romania, where coffee culture is still largely domestic. The arrival of Starbucks signals that the coffee wars of Eastern and […]

My name is Cristian and I like my world organized. My tendency to plan, structure and organize stuff has been mocked by many. It lost me numerous romantic opportunities (how does one plan a one-night stand?!). While it got me jobs and assignments, it also probably made a lot of workmates insane. Someone once told […]

If you don’t speak Romanian, please consider the ridiculous question I will pose next not as a dismissal of your worthiness, but as genuine solicitation of your opinion. The truth is that I’ve always had a problem dissociating an online space from the purpose it was created for. When owlspotting started, it was meant as […]

I returned home to Romania three weeks ago today and I would be lying if I said I’ve fallen into place. It more or less looks like everything is falling around me (the government and president in tow). I didn’t expect clarity of purpose or vision when I stepped of the plane, but I did […]