The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: Culture

  • Window Shopping

    In general, I’m not much of a shopper. The more I move, the less desire I have to accumulate. And when purchasing something cannot be avoided, I don’t really feel like dithering around. I just want to get in there, grab what I need, pay for it and leave. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate your offer…

  • Pillar to Post Vacations

    I have a European friend who absolutely hates the way I plan my vacations. I tend to cram as much into a holiday as I possibly can. I view them as a smorgasbord, where you only take little tastes of a wide variety of delicacies. I spend a lot of time rushing about, seeing as…

  • 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…

  • Okinawa Dreaming

    This week I applied for a job on Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. I qualify for it, and what the heck? Nothing is holding me here. I could use an adventure! Since then I’ve been reading about that beautiful island, and my imagination has taken off. I can already visualize my life there.…

  • The Plight of Haitian-Dominicans

    It’s a small island. You’d think Haitians and Dominicans would have learned to get along by now. Not so much. In May, the Dominican Republic ruled that if you were born of Haitian parents any time after 1929 (which means, basically, all of them) you would be stripped of your Dominican citizenship and deported. Never…

  • Charity Chicken: Anti-Dignity and Ways to Counteract It

    Happy Independence Day, America! I’ve chosen to write about a topic that goes hand in hand with independence: Dignity. My mother was a single mom in an era when that was not only less acceptable, but also not as workable. Daycare wasn’t as widely available, and women were often relegated to the most menial low-paying…

  • Reveling in the Red Tent

    I went to an amazing event the other day. It was for the premier of a movie called “The Red Tent: Things We Don’t Talk About”. This was a ladies only affair, and as well as the screening of the movie, there was a drum circle, belly dancing, handmade jewelry, tarot readings, massages, a raffle,…

  • 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…

  • Weather, ’tis Nobler

    Whenever we are at a loss for something to say or things are on the verge of getting awkward, we talk about the weather. That’s because it’s the one thing that we all have in common. All of us have experienced some form of extreme weather, whether it be storms or extreme heat or extreme…