The Big E: October 1st, 2011
My roommate and her boyfriend and I all took a trip up to West Springfield, Mass. for the day yesterday and headed on over to The Big E. Probably the most legit carnival I’ve ever been to, and by far the biggest. Tons of food, games, rides, crafts and just general awesomeness. We stopped by my roommate’s parent’s house on the way there and we learned that they had visited The Big E the previous weekend and purchased my roommate a tiny little llama (the one you’ll see in the car in the photos below) and of course we scoured the fair until I had attained my own little llama. We now let our little friends play with one another and give each other llama kisses, quite endearing if you ask me. She and I also bought these completely awesome Native American woven blankets and they are probably the warmest blankets we’ve ever wrapped ourselves in.
At the rails: Connolly Station, Dublin
Photos: Irish Museum of Modern Art
Anthony Bourdain on The Colbert Report
My two favorite men on television on one show?? How can it be possible??
(Full episode) http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/thu-august-4-2011-anthony-bourdain
Dublin: A Photo
The road to gender equality is a bumpy one in many countries. When we initially think of gender inequality, The Middle East is an area that faces much criticism, but what many people are unaware of is that Central America is often confronted with this major global issue as well. 
Microlending or microcredit, is the process of extending very small loans to those in poverty, and is meant to motivate the creation of an individual’s own business. Self-employment projects funded by these loans are a promising strategy for improving gender equality in Central America because it would advance the status of women by allowing them to act independently and provide additional income for their families.
In a region where machismo—the idea that men are superior to women—runs rampant, microlending would afford women a chance to act as a separate entity from their partners and even give them an opportunity to raise enough funds to provide for themselves and their children if they are forced to leave an abusive household.
Women currently make up ninety-five percent of the Grameen Bank’s microcredit clients, which originated in Bangladesh. Pro Mujer is “an international women’s development and microfinance organization whose mission is to provide Latin America’s poor women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and healthcare support.” Pro Mujer helps women escape from poverty and build wealth by creating sustainable microfinance organizations that supply services that women need to build their small businesses.
Microlending is perhaps the most beneficial socioeconomic tool for bettering the lives of women in Central America. For women lacking social and economic stability, it provides access to financial services that can help families finally exit poverty. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to “promote gender equality and empower women” and supporting the establishment of more microcredit organizations, like Pro Mujer, in an often-ignored region such as Central America, would behoove the United Nations Development Programme and bring them one step closer to achieving their goals.
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“The Travel Wish List”: Museo Frida Kahlo
The Casa Azul (“Blue House”) is where my most favorite artist, Frida Kahlo, grew up. The house in Coyoacan, Mexico was home to the Kahlo family and also served as a home to Leon Trotsky when he first came to Mexico in 1937. 
Frida spent much of her time indoors after her accident in 1925 which left her with a broken spinal column, broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, fractures in her right leg and dislocated right foot and shoulder. The painful 3-month recovery in a full body cast forced her to remain cooped up for a quite a while. She often suffered from relapses of extreme pain throughout the rest of her life, which left her bedridden for months at a time.
The museum contains all of her and her husband Diego Rivera’s personal belongings from the time they lived there (from 1929-1954 when Frida died). While much of their work is not exhibited there, my continued interest in seeing where great artists and writers lived and worked at their craft is very much the motivating factor behind my wanting to head down to Mexico.
I’m not sure what’s up with the sound on this video, but it does a pretty decent job at showcasing a lot of the items found in the museum.
“The Travel Wish List”: Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Besides the fact that my main man Ernest Hemingway spent some time in Istanbul in 1922,
there are a few reasons I want to hit up the largest city in Turkey.
Once a basilica, later a mosque after the Ottoman conquest and now a museum, the Hagia Sophia was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years until the Seville Cathedral was finished in 1520. It’s gorgeous, let’s be honest, and that’s really a motivating factor behind wanting to visit it.
Much of my desire to go to Istanbul is driven by the fact that I’ve never been to an Islamic country and the Middle East fascinates me to no end. Istanbul is located on the border between Europe and Asia, and is the only city in the world on two continents. It seems to me that this city is truly a beautiful combination of eastern and western culture at it’s finest.
And now, a little YouTube lovin’ that inspired the title of this post:
So just remember, if you have a date in Constantinople, she’ll be waiting in Istanbul.
Article on Ethos Press Corps
Check out my article on the Ethos Press Corps website about the conflict between Unionism and Nationalism within the European Union!
“The Travel Wish List”: Dublin Wheel
Alright, so I just got back from Dublin in June and I’m dying to go back. The one thing I never really got a chance to see when I was there was the Wheel of Dublin. Okay, listen, it may just seem like a Ferris wheel to you, but to see all of Dublin from the air would be remarkable, especially at night. The wheel is 200 feet tall (less than half the height of the London Eye), has 42 closed capsules and can hold 336 people.
