Premier Danielle Smith wants to protect Alberta’s children from the horrors of Judy Blume, Alice Munro, and a stray queer kiss in a YA novel. But there’s one book she’ll never ban: the Bible. The irony? Crack it open and you’ll find stories drenched in blood, lust, betrayal, mutilation, and pimped-out daughters — the kind…
The Republic of the Self-Inflicted Wound Canada’s politics has always loved its myths. But now? They’re stitched out of cowboy hats, polyester suits, and old-school Calvinism. That’s the story I dig into in my new CounterPunch article on Cowboy Calvinism. What is “Cowboy Calvinism”? It’s the gospel of grievance dressed in rodeo drag — a…
Castillo de Montánchez Longform read published in the February issue of Perceptive Travel Magazine. (click over) A family trip to a curious festival where the blessed are not the meek, but in fact their modes of transport. “The sweep before us was more than 180 degrees. The savannah, some 1300 feet below, rolled off into…
In an age when American culture seems to permeate and even obliterate traditions around the world, it’s refreshing to local traditions hold strong against the ceaseless tide. Here in Spain they have incorportated Santa Claus and the mass consumerism of America into their Christmas season, but the main event is still the Three Kings Day…
This ain’t John Brim’s seminal Ice Cream Man and perhaps little more of David Lee Roth’s take on it. In this week’s Camino a Ítaca Christmas and what it means for the oldest city in the world. Will it turn into a Turkish colony? Will the Israelis make a huge land grab or simply annex it?…
Celestial interventions in this week’s Camino a Ítaca. And Virgins? Did I forget to mention Virgins? Click over to read the originally published piece in Spanish in the HOY or read the English translation below. (PDF en castellano abajo) For the past few weeks the local papers in Cáceres have taken on a distinctly retro…
This week’s Camino a Ítaca asks whatever happened to good ‘ol fashioned miracles? It seems that the dead no longer walk and the seas no longer part. But hell, that doesn’t stop people from asking. All this and more is explored in my soon-to-be-published book. Stories Left in Stone. Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain.…
In this week’s Camino a Ítaca, a look at a piece of Spain that is in flux. Not-so-slight shifts in social contexts, yet some adherence to the norm. Click over to read the originally published version in Spanish in el HOY or read the English translation below. (PDF en castellano abajo) Personally, I miss the…
In this week’s Camino a Ítaca, a rebranding of the global icon, the dragon slayer, with an eye on a population that desperately needs someone’s help, anyone’s help. Even a mythical knight. Click over to read the originally published version in Spanish in el HOY or read the English translation below. (PDF en castellano abajo)…
In this week’s Camino a Ítaca leaps of faith, both physically and metaphorically. Anthropology in action as people create their own faith. Click over to read the original version in Spanish in el HOY or read the English translation below. (PDF en castellano abajo) The bonfire was lit in a way that seemed entirely fitting…