The Uncountables
Opinion, by Steve Spencer
RIO DE JANEIRO – Public service announcements for the 2010 U.S. Census, running on radio and television stations Stateside, relentlessly make the point that communities cannot get their fair share of resources if there isn’t an accurate count of just who and how many are living where.
The “How It Works”section [...]
Hunger Strikes
Opinion, by Michael Royster
RIO DE JANEIRO – Last week came news was that Orlando Zapata, a Cuban dissident, committed the undiplomatic gaffe of dying of hunger on the very day when Brazil’s President Lula was hobnobbing with the local great (Fidel) and the near-great (Raul). Mr. Zapata had been on a three month hunger [...]
Bank Blues for Travelers and Locals
Opinion, by Doug Gray, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Shortly after carnival in the Sendas at Largo do Machado, I witnessed a group of Americans trying unsuccessfully to withdraw money from a huddle of four cash machines by the entrance to a supermarket. As they rotated between machines, each giving one of several cards [...]
Down With Intolerance!
Opinion, by Jack Woodall
RIO DE JANEIRO – You might think that as people grow older, they should become more tolerant. After all, they’ve been there, done that, and nothing should ever surprise them. But after reaching the age euphemistically known as “senior”, I find I am no longer inclined to suffer fools gladly [...]
The 457 to Insight
Opinion, by Pedro Widmar
RIO DE JANEIRO – My girlfriend often describes me as a conspiracy lover by nature, and a cynic by nurture. And maybe for that reason I’ve been hesitant to acknowledge the efforts of our local government in the past months to improve areas of the city which seem frozen in time – [...]
Jogo Do Bicho, Rio’s Numbers Game
Opinion, by Michael Royster
RIO DE JANEIRO – In 1884, Mr. Drummond, a local merchant, bought the Fazenda dos Macacos (the Monkey Farm). He installed a zoo, which prospered until government subsidies ceased. Rather than close it down and sell off the animals, he listened to a Mexican adventurer and happily adopted an adaptation [...]
The Politics of Carnival
Opinion, by Michael Royster
RIO DE JANEIRO – Here it is. The world-famous, five-day blowout of overindulgent, extravagant fun, featuring thousands of beautiful bodies, some exotically adorned and (to many Americans) shockingly exposed, all dancing and singing and parading up a storm till the break of day. Every day. The annual national catharsis, where the [...]
Blocos-heads
Opinion, by Steve Spencer
RIO DE JANEIRO – Mid-summer Rio de Janeiro. Time for Carnival and, with it, the ever more ubiquitous “blocos” or block parties. Well over 100 are officially scheduled this year, and for sure these ain’t the pot luck, meet-‘n’-greet-the-neighbors events that can occur in Anytown, USA.
Rather, in keeping with the Carioca [...]
Cultural Imperialism Not Limited to U.S.
Opinion, by Michael Royster
The week of Groundhog Day, where life repeats itself ad nauseam, the international press carry reports of ten Idaho residents, allegedly Baptist Christians, who allegedly kidnapped 33 Haitian children and tried to take them across the border to the Dominican Republic on the grounds that they are (1) orphans, (2) underprivileged and [...]
