Tag Archives: Spain

Octopus for Christmas

December 25, 2013 No, not salmon, that eminently respectable candidate for a fishetarian dinner.  Octopus instead, still exotic and dubious-looking in this part of the world, but a common food staple in Japan and throughout the Mediterranean: in Spain, Portugal, … Continue reading

Posted in Animals, epic, Food in literature, Global South, oceans, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mangoes: Richard Blanco, Sandra Cisneros

January 9, 2013 Conceived in Cuba, born in Spain, raised and educated in Miami– that’s Richard Blanco, as described by the inaugural planners. What poem would he be reciting on January 20? It’s not so easy to guess based on … Continue reading

Posted in Americas, Cities, Contemporary literature, Cuba, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Global South, Latino/a literature, Poetry, Spanglish, Vernacular dialects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hemingway’s Four Wives

June 27, 2012 Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Matha Gellhorn, Mary Welsh — I sometimes think of them as punctuation marks to the writing.  And yet a good chunk of world history seems written into these marriages. Hadley was in Paris … Continue reading

Posted in Americas, Caribbean literature, Cities, Cuba, Global South, Latin America, museums, Nobel Prize, Spanish, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Two Toledos

April 25, 2012 I’m on my way to Toledo, I told people.  Ohio, not Spain, I added.  Then I found out that the two are in fact sister cities. The association began in the 1920s when University of Toledo President, … Continue reading

Posted in Arabic, architecture, Classics, Educational institutions, epic, Islam, Midwest, mixed races, Spanish, Translation, Universities, world literature, World religions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments