March ’91. We’d relocated to Mexico a year before. I worked at an Ad agency, and had decided to “brush up” my scant German. (No relationship whatsoever). So I took classes at the Goethe Institüt. During breaks we talked between classmates. I told about my climb of Mont-Blanc in ’89. As it turned out, Manuel…
My mother is a tough Lady. She always tells us: “Don’t whine”. Uncle Joe is a CPA. We call him “Chief Joseph” to bug him. He grins: “I’m not a Nez-percé. I’m Umatilla.” I tease him: “Wasn’t your great-grandmother a Walla Walla?” My aunt works two jobs, but it doesn’t matter. (Don’t whine). Plus, they…
Congratulations to America. (And the world). TBH I ‘been worried sick for the past few weeks. Compliments to the American voters. Very best wishes to the Biden-Harris team. Loooots of work to do. 👍🏻
I never accepted arbitrary. At school. In the Army. (Don’t argue with the Captain). In student government. (I once was a Student Senator in another life.) At work. Even with abusive clients. Client is first but there are limits. Arbitrary is a common human behaviour. It must be fought at all cost. Thanks to Scottie…
If you recall, end of September, I presented the Financial Times’ analysis of polls for the upcoming election as well as Google Trends’ analysis. While polls tended to give Biden the lead, Google Trends gave Trump the lead. A month later, 2 days away from the election, more than 85 million people have already voted.…
When we bought the new house in the South of Mexico city, in the Tlalpan neighbourhood, there was a house nearby, entirely painted with “street art”. Motifs inspired from pre-Colombian lore. Here’s how it looked from left to right. The central figure was a red-hair tree-woman (goddess?) The scroll coming out of her mouth was…
“You’re a good Doctor, for a woman!” On March 9th, yesterday, women in Mexico went on “strike”, as a protest against the mounting violence against women in the country. Feminicides, rapes, home violence, abductions… The list is too long. And the numbers daunting. The date of March 9th, after International Women’s Day, was set about…
We left West Africa in ’64. We were lucky: all our friends who stayed in Guinea, Europeans and Africans, were jailed, tortured, some executed. See the Colonel’s gardens and its epilogue: https://equinoxio21.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/the-colonels-gardens-an-african-childhood/ We spent a 3 years’ intermission in Holland. Drastic weather change. On the downside, I had to wear shoes all the time. Can’t…
En route to the Islands of Los, off the coast of Conakry, Guinea, West Africa, c.1960. Far left, my mother. Centre, Mme Lips, with her braided hair down to her… I remember she had very long hair for the time. Far right, Dominique and Claude Millet, who much later, would be my host family in…
First woman to obtain a Baccalauréat (French Senior High School diploma): Julie Daubié (1824-1874). She obtained her Baccalauréat in 1861. She was also the first woman in France to earn a B.A. in Literature, in 1871, at a time La Sorbonne was not open to women. Catherine Brewer was the first American woman to earn…
