The Faith Trap

This week’s Camino a Ítaca draws parallels between religious bigotry in two distinct places. The faith trap is lethal to inquiry and thought and is throw about with alarming regularity. Click over to the original article published in Spanish in el HOY, or read the English version below. (PDF en castellano abajo) The world recently…

The Salt Market

Lapiz Luzuli The terrible tragedy unfolding in slow motion in Afghanistan reminded me of gems on sale in the open air markets of Yemen. In this week’s Camino a Ítaca, I look back at the Afghan stones that were so valuable and the near hysteria of right-wing conservatives, desperate to declare their deity somehow more…

Remember Yellow Fever?

This week’s Camino a Ítaca looks back to when I first started traveling. Remember those Yellow Fever passorts they used to give out? I imagine they still do? Looking back and looking forward. You can click over and read the original article in Spanish en el Hoy, or read the English version below. (PDF en…

Flights of Fancy to Nowhere

Saparmurat Niyazov, a.k.a Turkmenbashy This week’s Camino a Ítaca brings us to the vast steppes of Central Asia and then back again in search of the more ridiculous flights of fancy imposed upon us all by our Dear Leaders. Click over to read the original version published in Spanish in the regional newspaper, el Hoy…

Deuteronomy

Lady of Elche statue In this week’s Camino a Ítaca we walk back to the fifth book of the Jewish torah, back to deuteronomy. Well, if not exactly back to this religious text, back to something equally atavistic: Oposiciones. The medieval method they use here in Spain to choose their public school teachers (and other public…

Are We There Yet?

In this week’s Camino a Ítaca I’m reminded of the perseverance of some of my brave, female students in Yemen. If they could, I can. Click over to read the original in Spanish or the English version below. (PDF en castellano abajo).  Standing in front of a new class is always somewhat nerve-wracking, especially if…