The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: Mexico

  • Walk Your Life

    I’ve been watching a BBC series called Tribal Wives on Youtube lately. The premise is that they have a British woman live with a remote tribe for a month and take on the role of a Tribal Wife. Women have been sent to Thailand, Gabon, Mexico, and Namibia, to name a few locations. It’s really…

  • The Mysterious Death of a Decisive Woman

    I met one of the most fascinating women I’ve ever known during my sophomore year in college. She shared my major and was extremely intelligent, so it was natural that I’d have been drawn to her. But the more I knew, the more intrigued I became. I can say without hesitation that she was like…

  • It’s No Honeymoon

    I heard recently that the tradition of having a honeymoon after one gets married has some very nefarious origins. Back when abducting the bride from a neighboring village or tribe was even more commonplace than it is today, it was a good idea for the man to hide the woman for a couple of weeks.…

  • 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…

  • Strange Natural Encounters

    Yesterday I saw something that nearly made me drive off the road. A rainbow that was shaped like a backward letter N instead of being in an arch. A really bad picture of it is below. I wish it came out sharper. The only thing that I can think of is that it was a…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • My Four Compass Points

    I’m recovering from a cold and completely devoid of inspiration today, so I’ll leave you with the 4 extremes of my travels. The furthest west that I’ve been is Santa Monica, California. The furthest east that I’ve been is Göreme, Turkey. The furthest south that I’ve been is Mitla, Mexico. The furthest north that I’ve…

  • My Recipe for Peace on Earth

    Have you ever noticed that the most prejudiced, judgmental, belligerent people are often the very ones who have had little or no exposure to the groups that they are complaining about? Many years ago I decided to travel to Puerto Rico with my boyfriend at the time. Upon hearing of our plans, his mother completely…

  • Express Yourself While You Can

    The written and spoken word has always been dear to me. That’s why I got a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies. I wanted to be able to express myself in more than one language and really get into another culture. I wanted to see how communication differed in another tongue. After living…