Dynamic Woman — Changing Times
Tucson dances in the desert like an aged, still lovely senora twirling her colorful skirts out across the Catalina mountains. She steps lively in the barrio, gives a nod of appreciation to the University of Arizona and takes the arm of history at San Xavier del Bac. Colorful, fun and friendly.
More precious than any stained glass windows were the few people I saw in Poland who entered a church to pray. Early in the morning a father leads his young son across the threshold of one of many cathedrals. As tourist swarm the altar like bees drawn to gold inlay a local woman kneels, contemplating her prayer book. In the evening a working woman pops into a church on her way home from work.
The Czech town of Stramberk near the border of Poland is the seat of the Kingdom of Wallachia, the figment of a marketer’s overactive imagination. Tomas Harabis issued passports to the tongue-in-cheek mini-nation and established it in the hearts of the people with a flag, currency, stamps, a patron saint and a beer god.
Lokal (The Dump) features updated Czech classics at low prices in a 1980s retro style designed to recall a charmless train station. A menu note says they subscribe to the Slow Food movement that combines honest work and fresh ingredients “caught up with spices, bad fats which keep longer, and other tricks to make the food faster and cheaper.” That’s either incredible honesty or a bad translation but it was packed with young people, the décor was clever and fun and the food was fresh and tasty (I ordered a roasted portion of duck with red cabbage and apples to avoid any possibility “bad fat.”)
Going to Twitter is like moving to the big city and starting a new high school. Will the kids like me? Do I have enough friends? Did I choose the right group? If you are a small town girl with big town aspirations it can be overwhelming. Everyone knows so much more than I do. How will I ever get noticed?
