Dispatches from everywhere -- The winter palettes -- Three days in August -- Young Russia's defiant decadence -- Their irony, humor (and art) can save China -- The artists of South Africa: separate, and equal -- Vlady's conquests -- "Don't mess with our cultural patrimony!" -- On each palette, a choice of political colors -- Sailing to Byzantium -- Enchanting Zambia -- Phaly Nuon's three steps -- The open spaces of Mongolia -- Inventing the conversation -- Naked, covered in ram's blood, drinking a Coke, and feeling pretty good -- An awakening after the Taliban -- Museum without walls -- Song of Solomons -- Children of bad memories -- Circle of fire: letter from Libya -- All the food in China -- Outward opulence for inner peace: the Qianlong Garden of Retirement -- Adventures in Antarctica -- When everyone signs -- Rio, city of hope -- In bed with the president of Ghana? -- Gay, Jewish, mentally ill, and a sponsor of gypsies in Romania -- Myanmar's moment -- Lost at the surface.