The early Rymans here in Los Angeles, on the cusp of Abstract Expressionism, make ecstatic little fetishes of soft clouds of white paint and bumpy planes of criss-crossing strokes.
Many of us have experienced a bumpy ride on a plane, but the routine – albeit always scary –of sudden drops or wobbling wings is nothing compared to what an aircraft is subjected to when undergoing tests.
You know, the ones that pop into your head whenever a plane hits bumpy air (which, for the record, Captain Sully Sullenberger says you should not stress out about).
Baledogle — or "B-dog" as it's colloquially referred to by the Americans in Somalia — has long been a forward operating base on the plains of Southern Somalia, a bumpy, 40-minute propeller plane ride from Mogadishu or a days-long drive through terrain littered with IEDs.
With six children, she still manages to travel lightly, without much security, taking the same bumpy roads and dodgy planes and going through the same military checkpoints as I do when I report from conflict zones.
Africa's civil wars, sham elections and political shenanigans certainly demand attention, so the remoter parts of Darfur, Ethiopia, the Niger Delta or Zimbabwe tend to be where Western reporters end up, often after dangerous journeys in elderly planes and bumpy jeeps.
Following a harrowing 360 degree spin and several sharp turns to reduce altitude, the crew shouted "brace, brace, brace" as the officers brought the plane to a bumpy landing.
Only after 45 bumpy minutes in the Nova Scotia commuter plane did the truth dawn.
As my plane descends through the bumpy mid-morning desert air into McCarran Airport, I gaze out the right side window to catch my first glimpse of the blue and silver buildings that cut through the sky above the Las Vegas Strip.
