The Nation Cruise

by Pa Rock
World Traveler

I will be cruising again during the second week of December, this time heading to Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico. If I were still living in the bitterly cold Midwest, this would be an especially lovely getaway. But even though the weather in Phoenix will be great in December, it will still be nice to get away from the sand fleas and teabaggers - if only for a week.

And will I ever be getting away from the teabaggers! This cruise is with The Nation magazine, a very leftist publication that offers me a weekly respite from Arizona attitudes. This cruise will be much like the one that I took with Ms. Magazine and the National Association of Social Workers a couple of years ago with some of the time at sea being devoted to workshops and listening to well-known speakers.

It will such a rush to be set adrift with people who actually think and speak sense!

Speakers scheduled to be on the cruise include national luminaries like Howard Dean (former governor of Vermont and chair of the Democratic National Committee), Calvin Trillin (poet and columnist), and award-winning novelist E. L. Doctorow. Tom Hayden, California politician and member of the infamous Chicago Seven, was scheduled to be a speaker, but I recently noticed that his name has been dropped from the line-up. (I hope that he has a change of heart and decides to join us!) Several national journalists will also be on board sharing their insights.

This will be my second cruise of the year. The first was last June when Nick and Boone joined me on a Disney adventure. We had a marvelous time letting the folks from Disney entertain us. Floating with The Nation will certainly be different than last summer's boat ride to the Bahamas with the House of Mouse, but I am expecting to have just as much fun!