JimBenning.Net » World Hum

Talking Travel with Henry Rollins

Jim Benning — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:09:02 +0000

This week I interviewed Henry Rollins — punk rock icon, spoken-word performer, writer, actor, DJ — about his new book, Occupants, which features his photographs and observations from war-torn and troubled places around the world. It’s a powerful book. I loved what Henry had to say about travel and the kindness of strangers and how his journeys have humbled him over the years.

Here’s a taste:

Humbling to the point where you have major regrets about some of the stupid things you said, some of the things you thought were right. You keep going to these countries, and it’s like, you forgot the lesson from the last time. Because the first person you encounter kind of bitch-slaps you upside the head in the most wonderful, innocent way and you realize, God, I’m still an asshole. And this guy, by doing nothing except being broke and so incredibly polite—it takes you aback, you realize, I’m still not there yet. I still have like eight miles to go before I can even get into the parking lot of humility. I have to keep going back. It’s like going back to a chiropractor to get a readjustment.

World Hum: The Journey Continues

Jim Benning — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:14:24 +0000

I’m happy to report that the online travel magazine I co-founded in 2001 is back firing on all cylinders after several months of light posting. This post explains it all.

RIP Denis Dutton

Jim Benning — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:24:57 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear about the death of Denis Dutton. The writer, philosopher and academic founded one of my favorite websites, Arts & Letters Daily, which links to thoughtful and challenging writing, much of it long-form. (The New Yorker just dubbed him “the intellectual’s Matt Drudge.”) I occasionally exchanged emails with Dutton when he linked to essays on World Hum. A link on ALDaily sent a flood of readers, and it made me happy, because I always wanted World Hum to be read by the same people reading Harper’s, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and other sources for Dutton’s site.

I love this quote from Dutton that the Los Angeles Times just dug up:

A few years ago, Bill Gates was boasting that we’ll soon have sensors which will turn on the music that we like or show on the walls the paintings we like when we walk into a room. How boring! The hell with our preexisting likes; let’s expand ourselves intellectually.

Dutton helped many of us aspiring to do just that.

World Hum in ‘The Best American Travel Writing’ 2010 Edition

Jim Benning — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:49:31 +0000

Nice to see four World Hum stories included as notable selections in the new Best American Travel Writing anthology, just published. This year’s book was guest edited by Bill Buford, founder of Granta and author of the excellent memoir, “Heat.” The World Hum pieces honored in the book are: On the Perils of Travel Writing, by David Farley (a story whose origin dates back to a conversation I had with Farley in a New York City bar in 2008); Where no Travel Writer has Gone Before, by Rolf Potts; and Cycling India’s Wildest Highway and Face-off on the Congo, both by Jeffrey Tayler.

When Worlds Collide

Jim Benning — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:04:53 +0000

I’m a big fan of travel writer Paul Theroux, whose books often chronicle train trips while exploring culture, politics, human nature, you name it, in a shrewd, unflinching way. And lately, I’ve been been reading another kind of train travel book, “The Little Engine That Could, ” to my daughter, who just turned 4. We both love the book. And so it was that one evening, after reading the book to my daughter and putting her to bed, I began to wonder what Theroux would have written were he aboard the train in the children’s book. And then my imagination went a little nuts. Which is how this happened. Bay area illustrator Bill Russell supplied the art we published with it, which I love.

USA Network on World Hum

Jim Benning — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:08:43 +0000

Kind words from USA Network, which just gave World Hum its “Character Approved” stamp, reserved for “innovators in their field who are influencing our opinions, our style, and our view of the world.”

From the website:

Reading Worldhum is a different experience than reading a traditional travel magazine with lists of the best museums in Paris or places to shop in Rome. Worldhum’s Character Approved approach to travel writing makes me feel like I’m standing on the street with the writer. I can see the colors, and I can smell the air. As I read Tom Swick’s story, “Mr. Suitcase,” I even shared the emotional experience of lost luggage–and I loved every minute of it.

Thanks, USA Network.

Photo: ppz via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The Australian on World Hum

Jim Benning — Fri, 21 May 2010 04:42:14 +0000

Praise for World Hum in the Australian:

Founded in 2001 and tagged “dispatches from a shrinking planet”, World Hum promises “the best travel stories on the internet” and it often rises to the challenge (note that the quality is patchy and some writers are, well, city blocks ahead of others). But it’s an energetic and engaged site, with lots of updates and new posts, tweets and blogs, and you will uncover some genuine nuggets of valuable information and numerous insights.

World Hum Named 2010 Webby Honoree

Jim Benning — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:31:10 +0000

Great news, especially since it was in the writing category. Other sites also honored for the quality of their writing include NPR, BBC World Service and Vanity Fair.

Thanks, Webbys.