Gods and Civil Servants

Stability or … much needed change. The next stop on the Camino a Ítaca…civil servants and premature death. Read the original Spanish version here or the English below. The frayed, red and white plastic tape spun around in the wind, cordoning off the area like a crime scene. Large blocks of faded plastic lay like…

Fear and Loathing in Siberia

COVID has created our own Siberias. My next installement on the Camino de Ítaca travels from Vladivostok all the way to Extremadura. Click over to the original Spanish version or the English one below. We were somewhere around Chita on the blurry edges of Mongolia and China when the vodka really started flowing. I remember,…

Laugh to Keep from Crying

I drink to keep from worrying and I smile to keep from crying In another stop along along the Camino a Ítaca op-ed trail, outsiders. The ‘other’ that so many fear for some many reasons. Click over to read the originally published version in Spanish or the piece’s beginnings in English below. 

Corona Kids

   I began my new op-ed column, ‘Camino a Ítaca‘ today with a piece about the plight of kids under the COVID-19 lockdown here in Spain. Click over to the original here. A real-life Jiminy Cricket tale that began its life in the English version below.

Before We’re Uberized

Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. I have a soft spot for the Spanish postal system. Back at the turn of the millennium my mother and I decided to walk the Camino Santiago…in January.  By…

An Odyssey

The regional newpaper HOY has been hosting a series of articles on the state of the University of Extremadura. I was asked to contribute and rather than offer an in-depth academic analysis, I opted to tell my story and experience of working there.  First the English version: It came as a complete shock to me.…