Independence or Death
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – Tuesday, September 7th is Brazil’s “Dia da Independência” (Independence Day), celebrating 188 years of sovereignty. Around the country mini-carnivals are held with flags, balloons, and streamers decorating the streets. People of all ages take part, and in the evening fireworks light up the Brazilian sky. Brazil’s history as a seceding [...]
Satirize This
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – Satire to me is a somewhat ambiguous term. Like “film noir”, no matter how many times I read a definition of it, I still don’t feel confident explaining it. Satire is defined by Marriam-Webster as: 1: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn, 2 [...]
Satellites and Oversights
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – Everyone knows satellites are pretty cool. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines them in this context as: a) a celestial body orbiting another of larger size b) a manufactured object or vehicle intended to orbit the earth, the moon, or another celestial body. If you’ve watched any movies lately you know it’s how [...]
Favela Stories
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – In last week’s issue we published a controversial story in our Real Estate section about living in Vidigal, one of Rio’s largest and most visible favelas. Although unlike most favela articles the issue was not painting a negative portrayal, but rather making it sound too nice. The concern voiced was [...]
Limpa Lapa
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – Limpa (clean) can be overdone with some things in my opinion, like; screenplay dialogue, music lyrics, sneakers, New York, and street parties. Last week we wrote about the changing face of Lapa, but it didn’t hit home until I went there last Friday to see for myself. There is no [...]
Deeply Troubling
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – We’ve already spent some time covering the BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and relating that to the Brazilian Pre-Salt exploration underway. One silver-lining is that it’s given Brazil some warning and time to consider the potential consequences of a similar disaster happening here, and increase safety precautions. [...]
Lusowhat?
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – This week we published a story about the FESTLIP festival and it took me back to last year when I learned a new word from one of our reporters – “lusophone”. It reminded me about the infinite potential of the human language, as well as the long-gone days of Portuguese [...]
The Girl From Ipanema
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – “Garota de Ipanema” (“The Girl from Ipanema”) is perhaps the most famous bossa nova song ever, and maybe the most famous song to come out of Brazil. It became a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s winning a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, [...]
What’s Next
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – Now that Brazil is out of the World Cup, Rio is settling into winter. The season in Rio is pretty mild, but it does warrant a wardrobe change, and is a time to take measure on what’s next. In the football (soccer) culture, it means the 2014 World Cup, which [...]
Cleaning Who’s House?
Editorial RIO DE JANEIRO – This town is getting cleaned up, and not everyone is happy about it. As a (relatively) long-time New Yorker, I’ve seen how over-policing and gentrification can wear the charm off a place. Of course, comparing the two cities is a stretch, and Rio has such a big gap in social [...]