Oh, I see! moments
Travel Cultures Language

When a Mexican Cartoonist Speaks Your Language

by Eva Boynton on August 29, 2016

A cartoon showing the female symbol as a cross on a tombstone, drawn by Cintia Bolio, a Mexican cartoonist fighting gender stereotypes. (image © Cintia Bolio).

Ni una más (Not One More) speaks out on violence against women. 
© Cintia Bolio

Cintia Bolio Fights Gender Stereotypes

At a desk, pen and sketchbook ready, I waited with 50 other people for our teacher to arrive. In walks Cintia Bolio, with black hair wrapped around her shoulders, big hoop earrings, and a giant smile spread across her face.

She was here at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City to teach a course that revealed, through piercing words and pictures, the woman’s role in Mexican culture. The course had an intriguing title: Political Comic and Gender Perspectives.

WWOOF’s Homegrown Education

by Eva Boynton on August 22, 2016

Two women on a tractor at a WWOOF farm where they learn new skills and may develop into a global citizen. (image © Lizzy Eichorn).

Full steam ahead! The traveling farmer plows the ground for a worldwide education.
© Lizzy Eichorn

From Traveling Farmer to Global Citizen

“Evvvvvvvaaaaaaa, tea time!” my New Zealand WWOOF host would sing to me each day at noon. It was time to return from the garden for a full plate of fresh garden yummies. And so our days on this organic farm progressed to dinner followed by guitar and accordion melodies from a French couple, WWOOF volunteers themselves.

WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is a global work exchange program. Volunteers work on the farms, and WWOOF hosts offer food, lodging, and an organic education. You get to meet up with people from around the world and, together, you might do anything from A to Z:

Wordplay: Wit and Wisdom in Public Spaces

by Joyce McGreevy on August 16, 2016

A hair salon in Glasgow, Scotland typifies the wit and wordplay of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Hair-salon puns, like this one in Glasgow, Scotland, are permanent highlights of signage.
© Joyce McGreevy

Reading the Language of Signs Worldwide

Maybe it’s a sign, you think. You mean that literally. It’s Day 1 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and you’re staring at a wall of words that may signify the name of the street. Or a local ordinance. Or the route to Romania.

You know this much: it’s definitely in Cyrillic. Suddenly, you’re back in the pre-literacy of early childhood, experiencing the world as a dense forest of language whose mysteries you’re not yet able to penetrate.

Oh, I see: Signs are an indispensable element of our public spaces.

Copyright © 2011-2024 OIC Books   |   All Rights Reserved   |   Privacy Policy