The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: latin america

  • Language Barriers

    When I was around 14 I rode the bus to school every day with a bunch of kids from migrant worker families. I was the only one on the bus who didn’t speak Spanish. It drove me crazy and they knew it. They’d say something, look over at me, and laugh. I hated being left…

  • The Bunyip and his Cousins

    Behold the fearsome Bunyip. This mythological creature was much feared among the Aboriginal people of Australia. Until recently I had never heard of this beast, but it intrigues me because it seems to be so far from even the mainstream creepy folk creature as to be unrecognizable.   As you can see from the various…

  • Truth in Advertising?

    For every truly bad advertising campaign, I suspect there were people in the background who TRIED to warn their boss, but he or she refused to listen. Most people know about the classic one: Chevy Nova couldn’t figure out why their sales in Latin America were feeble. In Spanish, “No va” means “doesn’t go.” But…

  • The Pope and Higgs Boson: Too Much God to Digest all at Once?

    So, we have a new Pope. That’s a load off. Not that I’m Catholic, mind you, but I think it’s never a good thing to have a vacancy for the position of God’s representative on earth, do you? He’s from Argentina, he’s chosen the name Francis, and he’s a Jesuit. All of these things are…