A María David, bárbara del desierto, que mantuvo la fe cuando otros la perdían. I like this dedication. I like the name María David. For a long time and still and in many places (including the US) women’s names are qualified by men’s names to equate possession or belonging. I don’t like that. But I […]
Tag: language
Speak Spanish to me
I’ve been listening to a lot of Spanish music lately. Mon La Ferte and Bomba Estereo both came out with new albums this year that are fun and funky and that’s where I started but then I kept going. Back to Julieta Vanegas, Juanes, Manu Chao, Calle 13 and Shakira–the Spanish-singing stars of the aughts. […]
Dream deferred
When I lived in Spain I taught English lessons to one of the French teachers, Javier, and his son Yann. The lessons happened at their kitchen table, at which Yann truly struggled to remain seated for the whole thirty minutes. When Yann left Javier and I would usually just chat in English. I learned a […]
How to belong
Last week I was walking through the greeting card aisle in my local Rite Aid when a man stopped me and asked me if I spoke Polish. He needed help understanding one of the greeting cards written in English. (I don’t speak Polish.) This happens more than you might think. Or really, what usually happens […]
Buen provecho, gente
Bueno provecho means bon appetit. (Funny how I translate something to English and it ends up in French.) But the phrase buen provecho cannot be explained so easily. But it’s much more than a phrase. It’s a cultural mindset. Saying buen provecho to someone when they are eating is the equivalent of saying bless you […]
Anne Foster 