Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima brings back postwar memories of a living reminder of the power of the bomb

Emilio Pucci chose a tall, willowy, blonde American art-history student as his special model one winter in Florence. Many years later, Alice Bingham Gorman remembers seeing Italy’s master of color once again and the profound feelings that were reawakened.

Was it a coincidence or magic? She wrote 100 things she wanted in a man, buried the list in a closet. And then, oddly enough, a man who matched the list almost exactly strolled into Alice Gorman’s life.

Timing, they say, is everything. That was certainly true on my trip to Cuba in December 2014. The trip was planned well in advance as a shared musical, educational, travel experience for me and my grandson Daniel after his graduation from college. Neither of us had any expectations that the winds of historic political change between the United States and Cuba were about to blow.