Category: Blog

March 13, 2017: Hemingway’s Havana

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This morning, my mission was clear.  Find passage for tomorrow to Vinales, by reputation the most beautiful countryside in all of Cuba.  The state-owned bus company was no help – the only bus there being full and sold out online weeks ago.  Thankfully, the lady behind the counter at Infotur, the state-owned tourism office was able to work a little private sector magic and get me set up in a shared taxi for just five dollars more than the price of the sold out bus.  And apparently I owed her nothing more for this service than a sonrisas grande e un muchas gracias. Continue reading “March 13, 2017: Hemingway’s Havana” →

Bartolomé de Las Casas and the Atrocities of the Spanish Conquistadors

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March 12, 2017: Havana, Cuba – Daylight Savings in the Time of Revolution

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I slept nearly 11 hours last night, which is unheard of for me.

I woke up this morning and took my breakfast in the street, a shot of thick, syrupy sweet coffee decanted and consumed in a crumbling doorway.  Caffinated and high from an unhealthy dose of sugar, I proceeded to the Museo de la Revolucion.   Continue reading “March 12, 2017: Havana, Cuba – Daylight Savings in the Time of Revolution” →

March 11, 2017: Havana, Cuba – “This city may be beautiful to you, my friend, but not to me.”

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I bought my tickets almost the minute that Southwest Airlines announced direct service between Tampa, my home base, and Havana, Cuba. Continue reading “March 11, 2017: Havana, Cuba – “This city may be beautiful to you, my friend, but not to me.”” →

Conquest or Westward Expansion?: Native Americans and the Stories We Tell

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Continue reading “Conquest or Westward Expansion?: Native Americans and the Stories We Tell” →

Open Ended Social Studies has the chapters that your world history textbook is missing

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What is the root cause of our world’s troubles?  

If you ask me, it’s not a trade imbalance or a terrorist threat.  If we’re talking about the problem that lies at the heart of everything, it’s got to be a severe, devastating lack of empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Continue reading “Open Ended Social Studies has the chapters that your world history textbook is missing” →

Who made your smartphone? Globalization, raw materials, and slave labor from Potosi to Silicon Valley

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Globalization is nothing new – the indigenous peoples slaving away in the Potosi mines 500 years ago could tell you all about it, while Europeans cracked the whip in order to buy Asian-made goods at affordable prices. Add in the fact that the mines were supplied with food and coca by African slaves laboring away in the low lands, and you have a template for the modern integrated global economy – exploitation, unequal rewards, and all. Continue reading “Who made your smartphone? Globalization, raw materials, and slave labor from Potosi to Silicon Valley” →

For educators: Create an illustrated glossary of Nahuatl/English loan words

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When you’re teaching from many textbooks, it’s easy to think of native societies as “the other” – the Aztec are conquered and swept aside, if they’re mentioned at all, and they appear from the perspective of their conquerors.  They didn’t even call themselves the Aztec, for that matter – they referred to themselves as the Mexica, a name lent to the modern nation, and often excluded from your textbooks to prevent confusion between the two among students.   Continue reading “For educators: Create an illustrated glossary of Nahuatl/English loan words” →

Empathy in Action Bingo: A Different Kind of Social Studies

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Continue reading “Empathy in Action Bingo: A Different Kind of Social Studies” →