Tag: history

• October 27, 2025

  “I never saw my mother”

  In surely one of the most moving passages ever written in the English language, former US slave Frederick Douglass penned words that remind me of something vitally important. ‘I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life, and each of these times was in very short duration,…
• January 3, 2024

  Barcelona’s cannibal restaurant and murderous barber

  Legend has it that a certain inn was known for the quality and cheapness of its meat dishes. (Please note: No AI was used in my translation of this article.) There are two old mansions on a Barcelona street named Pou de la Figuera. They seem to stand somewhat isolated among the many modern buildings…
• January 29, 2023

  La mà que va signar el paper* (The Hand That Signed The Paper) by Dylan Thomas

  (*Translated into Catalan below with Antoni Cardona) La mà que va signar el paper va enderrocar una ciutat; Cinc dits sobirans van posar taxes a l’alè, Van duplicar els morts a la terra i van partir pel mig un país; Aquests cinc reis van fer que morís un rei La poderosa mà porta a una…
• April 3, 2010

  The Finding of History

    [For Jessie Starkey]     As a child There was no such thing as history Nothing in our town had patina, texture, age Nothing showed evidence of time long ago The lines were straight The streets were new The houses breathed fresh air only And their bricks were made recently All this was obvious…