The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: american

  • Free Maheinour el-Masry

    Here’s what’s sad. I’m willing to bet that 99 Americans out of 100 have never heard of Mehinour el-Masry, a brave human rights protester who has been jailed by the Egyptian government for exercising what we would consider to be her basic human right to free speech. I only heard of her the other day…

  • Countries are Artificial Constructs

    One of my friends applied for a high level federal job many years ago and put me down as a personal reference. Some guy in a suit showed up at my door to interview me about her, and one of his questions was, “Is she a good American?” That made me blink. Uh, what does…

  • Ospreys as Analogies

    We’ve heard the expressions “stubborn as a mule”, “dogged resistance”, markets that are “bullish” and “bearish”, and I really, REALLY would love an explanation for this one: “happy as a clam”. We often use the qualities of various animals to better describe our world. In the past couple of months, I have come to realize…

  • Views from my Windows—Part Two

    For the beginning of this story, check out part one. No matter our circumstances, my mother never let it be a question in my mind that I’d be pursuing higher education. She wanted more for me than she ever had herself. I got scholarships and loans and grants and she helped me as much as…

  • Drawbridge Mentality

    While searching the internet for things to put on my Drawbridge Lovers Facebook page (Join us!) I came across the term drawbridge mentality. Imagine my disgust as a bridgetender when I learned that it was an insult. Basically, someone with a drawbridge mentality moves to a community, and then does his level best to prevent…