Xavier and Catalan Independence

10/13/2018 by Pat Shiplett 1 Comment

They declared the referendum unconstitutional and then put the independence leaders in prison.Xavier Ballart is the owner of the apartment where I’m staying in Barcelona. He stopped by to explain Cataluña’s drive for independence.

Even though he spoke Spanish instead of Catalan, I couldn’t understand him as well as I’d like. He suspected as much but was too polite to let on. There was no mistaking what his hands and his expressions were saying.

Xavier said economics is part of the story. Cataluña is an innovative, productive part of the country. Like the colonials in early America, Catalans resent that Madrid takes a oversized bite out of their taxes before sending what’s left to other parts of the country.

But just as important, he said, is dignity.

The Catalan history runs deep and includes a distinct language that was outlawed by the fascists under Franco. Cataluña considers itself more open and forward thinking that other parts of Spain. It sets trends and challenges traditions. It is to Spain roughly what California is to the U.S.

Its population is about that of modern-day Switzerland and three times greater than America’s was when we claimed independence .

Last year a referendum on independence was outlawed by Spain and suppressed by the police. Some separatists leaders went into exile. Although the vote was in favor of independence, divisions run deep.

There were marches on Sunday. I happened to walk past a company of police standing on the ready on the east side of town. Xavier refers to them as RoboCops.

Secession is tricky business. Our Declaration of Independence insists that a free people have the right to secede and form a new government but the constitution we ended up with doesn’t include that protection. We fought a civil war over that issue.

Cataluña’s drive for independence has had an effect on investments and the economy. European governments have not given the recognition the ‘independentistas’ are asking for.

Xavier wears a yellow cloth ribbon on his shirt — you see them on the streets. He gave me an enameled metal version that he knows, as a visitor, I’ll never wear. He simply wanted a blogger from America to know that something is happening here.

Andrea Hart (Copy of original) (Copy of original)

08/06/2020 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

There’s no reason you’d connect the woman at our coffee shop with undocumented Zimbabweans or…be aware of her reporting on the policies of South African authorities.

These are experience Andrea Hart herself hadn’t imagined.

Some years back the kid who was the first in her family to go to college and to travel overseas caught a break. Her feel for words and ideas earned her a full scholarship at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

She learned that a muscular press is vital for a democracy and that groups lacking the ability to tell their story will be exploited.

While studying abroad she reported on economic migrants for the Cape Times and later covered general news and features at South Africa’s first totally interactive newspaper.

Fast forward ten years, Andrea now heads up community engagement activities at City Bureau. She is a cofounder of the non-profit, civic journalism lab.

Paid journalists are brought together to provide access to quality, trustworthy information that helps urban communities generate their own solutions. Residents receive hands-on training while engaging in civic processes. City Bureau fills the need for tech support and working space.

In a world of hard facts and stubborn realities, of two steps forward and one step back, professional burnout is a constant possibility. As a powerful affirmation for its staff members, City Bureau (which is not funded by taxpayer dollars) recently won a $1 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

The last time we had coffee Andrea said it’s important to “avoid the hero narrative” as something that can isolate an underserved community and make its people forget their own strength.

“Heroics are a false God.” she added.

Andrea Hart

09/10/2018 by Pat Shiplett 1 Comment

There’s no reason you’d connect the woman at our coffee shop with undocumented Zimbabweans or…be aware of her reporting on the policies of South African authorities.

These are experience Andrea Hart herself hadn’t imagined.

Some years back the kid who was the first in her family to go to college and to travel overseas caught a break. Her feel for words and ideas earned her a full scholarship at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

She learned that a muscular press is vital for a democracy and that groups lacking the ability to tell their story will be exploited.

While studying abroad she reported on economic migrants for the Cape Times and later covered general news and features at South Africa’s first totally interactive newspaper.

Fast forward ten years, Andrea now heads up community engagement activities at City Bureau. She is a cofounder of the non-profit, civic journalism lab.

Paid journalists are brought together to provide access to quality, trustworthy information that helps urban communities generate their own solutions. Residents receive hands-on training while engaging in civic processes. City Bureau fills the need for tech support and working space.

In a world of hard facts and stubborn realities, of two steps forward and one step back, professional burnout is a constant possibility. As a powerful affirmation for its staff members, City Bureau (which is not funded by taxpayer dollars) recently won a $1 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

The last time we had coffee Andrea said it’s important to “avoid the hero narrative” as something that can isolate an underserved community and make its people forget their own strength.

“Heroics are a false God.” she added.

Reasons To Learn A Foreign Language

08/28/2018 by Pat Shiplett 1 Comment

There are thoughts you can’t think in English.

Studying a foreign language changes your brain.

Studying a language is a kind of travelling.

You like crossword puzzles, it’s like that.

It will improve your English.

Each new word becomes an old friend.

Learning to read for the second time is as magic as the first.

Doing the difficult for no practical reason appeals to you.

People are nice to people learning their language.

You’ll end up with an irresistible accent.

Many of you have mentioned you have studied, you’re now studying or hope that one day you’ll free up the time to study a foreign language. And why not?

I’m heading back to Barcelona for several weeks of classes — hoping that this time I’ll be able talk to people in their language and later introduce them in ‘Out Among Humans.’

A lot of them will want to practice their English, they always do. So we’ll compromise and end up somewhere in between two languages.

I’m okay with that — I still need a safety net.

What Doesn’t Kill Us…

08/19/2018 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Our Founding Fathers were well aware that a dishonest and disturbed man or woman would occupy the White House from time to time.

They gave us a constitutional auto-immune system to help us survive our mistakes, with the ballot box being our first and most powerful line of defense.

This year’s mid-term elections are only months away — thirty-seven states and D.C. offer early voting.

It’s important to verify your voter registration now. A remarkable number of properly registered citizens have been wrongly purged from voter rolls. Deliberate voter suppression is a fact of life. almost exclusively in Republican-controlled jurisdictions.

Simply search online for your state’s election board to find a website or a number to call. I was able to verify my status in less than 4 minutes.