Category: Travel

The European (schools) crisis

Students, teachers and parents say the educational system for the children of Eurocrats is broken.

By  – on http://www.politico.eu/article/european-schools-european-problems/

Sealed within the cornerstone of the Brussels III school in Ixelles — one of the most sought-after educational institutions in the EU capital — lies a piece of parchment inscribed with the founding mission of the European School system.

Students in the European Schools, the statement declares, will be educated “side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices“ and “will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe.”

Continue reading “The European (schools) crisis” →

Giornali di un altro pianeta

Tratto da: http://www.francescocosta.net/2014/04/25/giornali-di-un-altro-pianeta/

di Francesco Costa

Sono stato qualche giorno in Inghilterra. Ho letto il Guardian di carta. Non ho scoperto niente di nuovo, figuriamoci, né per me né per gli altri, ma ne approfitto per mettere queste cose per iscritto, così da avere qualcosa a portata di mano quando capita che qualcuno mi chieda “esempi concreti” relativamente alla mediocrità della stampa italiana rispetto a quella degli altri grandi paesi occidentali. Parliamo in questo caso del Guardian di un giorno a caso: della copia che mi è rimasta nello zaino, per essere precisi (e sì, in Inghilterra ci sono i tabloid: ma non credo che i grandi quotidiani italiani vogliano essere paragonati al Sun – o pensino di fare il mestiere del Sun – bensì proprio al Guardian o al Times). Continue reading “Giornali di un altro pianeta” →

Why No One Goes to Naples

From the New York Times: http://ift.tt/1rimM0O

turistiSpring is here. In southern Italy, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the weather is balmy. Orange blossom fragrances mingle with wafts of jasmine. The food is good, the wine is inexpensive, the locals are friendly and beauty is all around. But where are the tourists?

The Amalfi Coast, south of Naples, is still a magnet for wealthy Russians and romantic Americans. Yet Naples itself is a tourist wasteland, and the rest of southern Italy is largely vacationer-free.

Only 13 percent of tourists who come to Italy go to the Mezzogiorno, as the south is known. The rest head for the center and north of Italy, or other Mediterranean countries altogether. German airports sent 223 flights to Spain’s Balearic Islands in one week last summer, and only 17 to southern Italy. Continue reading “Why No One Goes to Naples” →

The Problem With Little White Girls (and Boys)

Pippa Biddle in Culture Club

White people aren’t told that the color of their skin is a problem very often. We sail through police check points, don’t garner sideways glances in affluent neighborhoods, and are generally understood to be predispositioned for success based on a physical characteristic (the color of our skin) we have little control over beyond sunscreen and tanning oil.

After six years of working in and traveling through a number of different countries where white people are in the numerical minority, I’ve come to realize that there is one place being white is not only a hindrance, but negative — most of the developing world. Continue reading “The Problem With Little White Girls (and Boys)” →