In the Low Countries, 2: Language, art and history
What intrigued me most about the Low Countries were their languages and art, keys to understanding their complex cultures and their roles, passive and active, in clashes that have transformed the world. The decades of wars in the 16th-18th centuries involving Spain, France and Austria, each with their local Nederlander allies, the defeat of Napoleon … read more »
In the Low Countries: Belgium
The main aim and greatest satisfaction — besides beer and chocolates — of our recent visit to Belgium and The Netherlands was place sensing, which is much more than “site seeing.” Place sensing means taking in the smells, from rancid frites to flowers, fish and sea brine; the sounds of gutturals and oddly twisting vowels … read more »
Guernica, 80 years on
Today, 26 April 2017 is the 80th anniversary of the German bombardment of the small Basque town of Gernika — “Guernica” in Spanish. And on this day we spent hours seeing and studying in context the presentation of Pablo Ruiz Picasso’s painting Guernica in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Weeks … read more »
Voyage to Bolivia
Susana Torre has permitted me to post these excerpts from her report on our January trip to Bolivia. We are still assimilating the disparate experiences of our Bolivian sojourn, as it is really 3 countries (geographically and culturally) with over 40% of the population being of 36 officially recognized indigenous groups, the Aymara and the … read more »
Cheap reads
Free or discounted books at Smashwords, March 5-11, 2017, include my short-story collection, Welcome to My Contri (free) and my novel A Gift for the Sultan (big discount). Coupon codes for the discounts are posted with each title. If you do read either (or both) of these books, I’ll be grateful for your review or … read more »