Grenoble My father and George Washington shared the same birthday, February 22nd. He would have been 97 this year, and now he’s been gone just short of a decade. Whenever I would visit countries unknown previously to either of us, he would always ask me to tell him whatever I thought might interest him from …
Tag: Slovakia
Slovakians Need a Social Benefits Clawback Campaign
Banska Bystrica Several separate conversations struck me as we visited with villagers and others around central Slovakia, and both came together around the issue of social benefits, or what we would call welfare payments to out of work or otherwise financially imperiled families. On one hand, the classic, and racialized, discrimination is obvious when Slovakians …
The Edifice Complex and the Tension between Intake and Outreach
Banska Stiavnica The small city of Banska Stiavnica was a rich, mining city in its heyday. The symbol of the city is two lizards, and the legend has it that a shepherd in the mountains saw them run under a rock. Turning over the rock, he saw one was covered in silver dust and the …