In Rome, the Holidays Get a Sour Face
In Italy, writes Chris Watts, Saint Nick plays second fiddle to La Befana, the Christmas Hag. Just don’t call her a witch:
Visions of Portugal
On Jose Saramago’s late-in-life memoir of village life in Portugal: “When he was 83, Saramago released a memoir, which, like a missive from the grave, came into English translation in 2010, a year after he died.”
The Dream of Fluency
The first year in Amman, I encountered lots of things I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect that my Arabic voice would sound different than my English voice. That people would laugh at me for saying something correctly. That in the same day I would feel the heights of exhilaration and the depths of humiliation.
A Tired Sort of Beauty
Busy bazaars, solitary courtyards, aquamarine domes, and dilapidated houses. Photographer Leeza Taylor sends these pictures from Uzbekistan.
‘The Most Important Blessing Is Bread’
In Amman, writes Heather M. Surls, reverent care for bread is an economic necessity, a religious discipline, and a cultural obsession.
