Purging my mind of the week's events, I prepared for travel as the weak, late-afternoon light ushered in the day’s end. The cool grass, greened by spring rains, invited me to rest my head among the verdant blades. The wind laid down, almost flat, stilling itself, it...
For many years I have believed there is systemic racism in the U.S. regarding our Black population. The needless deaths of Blacks at the hands of the police, the many detailed stories over the years about the day-after-day demeaning treatment that Blacks have always...
By Stephen Vargha Jazz survived the 1918 influenza pandemic and Cuenca resident Jim Gala is doing his best to help the genre make it through the 2020 pandemic. According to Gala, jazz faces other challenges including the fact that its late-nineteenth century...
We got our first storm in what seemed like forever the other day. It was well past due. The Southern Ecuadorian Andes rely on a steady diet of rain, but this season has been parched by the weather phenomenon known as La Niña. Many of the family farmers that we rely on...
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in an ongoing series that looks at how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the lives of Cuencanos and Cuenca expats. By Robert Bradley It has often been said that, in business, timing is everything. If you are ahead of the curve you are...
Christmas decorations are being strung over Calle Simon Bolivar. Storefront windows are all aglow, many with tiny twinkling lights. The chill of the evening is pushed aside by gas heaters, standing like fiery sentries and first editions of R2D2. Well dressed women and...
By Jeremiah Reardon Even under Covid-19 restrictions, how grateful to Cuenca are my wife Belinda and myself. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I’d like to share moments of gratitude which we experienced the past year. By the middle of June, the city government had...
By James Tapper Young people are often dubbed “Generation Green” – millennials and teenagers championing climate action and environmental values, often with a well-aimed dig at older generations who have failed to prevent a climate catastrophe. Yet it is their baby...
By Kristen Richard It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when and where humans started to brew beer. That’s because it’s been an integral part of many cultures for thousands of years. Until recently, the earliest evidence of beer could be traced back 9,000 years ago to...
On December 10, 1869, Wyoming Territorial Governor John Allen Campbell, citing a “progression of understanding,” signed an act of the Territorial Legislature granting white women the right to vote, the first U.S. state or territory to grant suffrage to women. On...
