tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50936513258871784722012-02-04T04:41:59.066-05:00Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.comBlogger1041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-39929198024332957072011-08-06T22:11:00.001-05:002011-08-06T22:12:14.449-05:00

Cleaner, neater, calmer, more professional; fitter, happier, more collected: the new fishbane.com. Many thanks to Maria Mendez for the code.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-46449738278555062752011-03-30T13:23:00.000-05:002011-03-30T13:23:34.641-05:00

Rabbi, Run from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo. All credit to the highly capable Ari Daniel Shapiro, for whose production work I am grateful.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-71853808633920841532011-03-30T13:18:00.000-05:002011-03-30T13:18:42.121-05:00

The chronicles of Rabbi Gershom Sizomu continue on Tablet. An excerpt from part 2, which looks more closely at the religious inheritance the Abayudaya live with: What is it to be Jewish? This was at least one of the questions that I wanted the Abayudaya to answer, even during the distraction of Sizomu’s all-consuming campaign for parliament. It’s the question that had brought thousands of

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-59921555365250164192011-03-28T09:55:00.000-05:002011-03-28T09:55:21.623-05:00

Gershom Sizomu is the charismatic rabbi of the Abayudaya, who live outside Mbale, Uganda. Tablet publishes the first of a two-part long piece on the community, its founding, its survival under Amin, and its prospects for becoming part of global Judaism. Election The Abayudaya of Uganda have been Jewish since a colonial-era chieftain decided to follow the five books of Moses. A century later, a

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-56397065849508016312010-11-10T00:09:00.001-05:002010-11-10T00:10:52.694-05:00

In the Boston Review, a dispatch from winter. Zigzag Ice DragonPorters in ratty green uniforms are standing by their bamboo-and-metal sedans, calling out to the busloads of Chinese tourists. The tourists are huddled in groups on the frozen parking lot, strapping mini crampons onto all sorts of inappropriate footwear, or zipping up their rented snow boots. It’s February, and the New Year holiday

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-83270962256331083622010-08-13T08:30:00.001-05:002010-08-13T08:31:17.065-05:00

My Tablet review of the renovation of the Israel Museum is up: James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum since 1997 and overseer of its recent $100-million renovation, repeated several times over the course of a two-day press junket in Jerusalem last month that his institution offers nothing short of “an intuitive experience of 1 million years of material culture.” If this description

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-15395530257947308332010-07-08T10:51:00.000-05:002010-07-08T10:51:52.996-05:00

photo  © Amber Terranova My story out today in Tablet comes from Medellin, Colombia, where I spent time with a group of Jewish converts who trace their heritage to the Marranos of the Spanish Inquisition. It's a story with a little of everything: deep-fried pork rinds, conspiracies, kidnapping, and guerrilla. The article is here. The accompanying slideshow is here.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-51643399550850443732010-04-03T08:58:00.003-05:002010-04-03T08:59:57.569-05:00

The Times publishes my Jewspotting effort from Kaifeng, China today. This is a story that, for being in Travel, left a lot of topics on the cutting-room floor: identity, migration, loss and the motivations behind religion. Themes to come back to. China's Ancient Jewish Enclave THROUGH a locked door in the coal-darkened boiler room of No. 1 Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Kaifeng,

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-76479512329538755572010-03-31T11:31:00.003-05:002010-03-31T13:30:46.454-05:00

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere or maybe the old news giants are just too easy of a target. If that were true, though, how could you account for the brilliance of this? The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c CNN Leaves It There www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Reform

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-23058617549326509112010-03-17T10:10:00.002-05:002010-03-17T10:36:12.945-05:00

A first of several China dispatches. This one, in Tablet, looks at Sino-Israeli relations, a strange little whale-and-pilot dance. Kosher Chinese At this spring’s World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, Israel will show off its burgeoning bilateral relationship with the host country The beit knesset—the meeting place—is Haya’s Mediterranean Cuisine, an Israeli restaurant in Shanghai’s Zhuanqiao district.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-18090327555100186292010-01-24T05:45:00.004-05:002010-01-24T05:49:40.152-05:00

I'm in China, reporting three stories, through early March. It's all here on Find China, http://chinable.org, so why don't you click it already? Come on back to OPP once that trip is over.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-90609714208158098162009-12-29T15:23:00.000-05:002009-12-29T15:23:05.591-05:00

As I prepare for an upcoming trip to China, the NYTimes Cocuy story has made the rounds, including a melodious translation into Italian: I ramponi scricchiolano sulla neve. Grossi ghiaccioli color acquamarina sembrano pendere dalle bocche di un profondo crepaccio. Più in basso, le nuvole coprono il bacino del fiume Orinoco come una morbida coperta. Il paesaggio si distende lungo decine e decine

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-14255127394413428902009-12-07T18:41:00.000-05:002009-12-07T18:41:41.904-05:00

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-15811249177309944732009-10-15T09:45:00.001-05:002009-10-15T09:46:20.521-05:00

Los Angeles Times, 1895. Stuff that gets churned up in research. Read the rest here. 

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-10783720295163086502009-10-14T15:35:00.006-05:002009-10-14T15:56:07.719-05:00

I've gone twitter. I am a monkey. You should follow me.You'll learn about new stuff in media, neuroscience, colombiannesshood and sundry gems from my days mining info, reporting and writing. If blogs are a writer's slagheap, then twitter is a 47th-street diamond store: all glitter, no coal..

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-30029562168626056322009-08-26T08:39:00.003-05:002009-08-26T08:44:48.145-05:00

Thanks to Felipe, again.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-73893641113306950212009-08-07T11:35:00.004-05:002009-08-07T12:17:25.045-05:00

Marcos's work in the Cocuy is featured on PDN's Photo of the Day. Take a look.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-87720475921216038472009-08-01T09:53:00.017-05:002009-08-05T07:58:32.896-05:00

On the Ritak U'Wa Blanco. photo: Marcos RodaI report from El Cocuy National Park in this week's travel section.Above the Clouds in a Secret ColombiaAS crampons crunched ice, our guide, Rubará, raised his traditional woven sisal-thread handbag by his face and asked me to snap a photo. We were climbing above 17,000 feet, just shy of the summit of the Ritacuba Blanco, a glaciated peak shaped like a

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-69078557989831047162009-07-29T14:47:00.006-05:002009-07-29T15:41:42.463-05:00

Window views, Park Street, June, 2009Some ideas about home, explored in this video of the house where I grew up, in Charlottesville. A rough cut; low res; just playing around. Photos mine, from June, 2009. Or, pay a visit of your own:View Larger Map

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-89517534233855155012009-07-28T08:14:00.003-05:002009-07-28T08:34:15.403-05:00

I've taken on a pro bono role over at Killing the Buddha, as contributing editor [whom, as Patrick Symmes once pointed out to me, neither contributes nor edits]. I'll be trying to bring audio and multimedia to the site, even though in the area I complete the three "unders-": under-qualified, under-achieving and under-paid. I'm hoping to convince this capable ITP grad to share some expertise. At

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-59250952136788762212009-07-27T21:21:00.003-05:002009-07-27T21:45:37.110-05:00

This is the story of the Multi-Zap Zapper, "Mina Minic’s New Radiesthesia With Two Pendulums," and one of the bloodiest warlords of the late twentieth century. If you haven't already, please, please read Jack Hitt's soul-divining short epic, "Radovan Karadzic’s New-Age Adventure," in this week's NY Times Magazine.And, when in trouble, remember this escape clause: "I am a Herzegovinian woman, and

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-59436497529013184472009-06-10T10:42:00.005-05:002009-06-10T10:51:38.240-05:00

See you there...A special invitation fromKILLING THE BUDDHA What do you get when a Buddhist raconteur, a junior high Jewish messiah, and a transsexual cowboy for Christ walk into a bar? Find out at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on June 29th when Killing the Buddha, the award-winning online magazine of god for the godless, releases its new anthology, Believer, Beware: First-Person

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-56091714979762594922009-05-28T11:08:00.002-05:002009-05-28T11:13:14.482-05:00

The Brooklyn Rail hosts another Rant/Rhapsody at Freddy's this Sunday. Hope to see you there.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-23966413732968085102009-05-28T10:56:00.003-05:002009-05-28T11:04:47.378-05:00

Fraternity from Richard Mosse.Here's how Mosse describes the 5 min work:Fraternity was shot at Yale University's infamous DKE frat house in under an hour. The men were happy to participate in the project in exchange for a keg of beer. They compete against each other to shout or scream the loudest and for the longest time. When they cannot scream any longer they must stop, and cannot begin again.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-18254347097514690252009-05-20T10:56:00.004-05:002009-05-20T11:01:02.302-05:00

Colleague Shahan Mufti (left) going toe-to-toe with Bill Moyers and Juan Cole, on Bill Moyers Journal. Watch here, and find out what's really happening in Pakistan.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-90048614393326240042009-05-15T13:13:00.004-05:002009-05-15T13:30:40.074-05:00

Transiting the SunIn this tightly cropped image, the NASA space shuttle Atlantis is seen in silhouette during solar transit, Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from Florida. This image was made before Atlantis and the crew of STS-125 had grappled the Hubble Space Telescope.The phtographer made this image using a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera.Image

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-86680014955413047372009-05-13T15:13:00.004-05:002009-05-13T15:28:48.048-05:00

Sure, smart men can't jump, but they sure can blow the cover on rampant stupidity (or, euphemistically, "lack of innovation") in professional sports. This exchange between Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell on ESPN is delightfully all over the map, but prompted in part by Gladwell's recent study of the full court press.Add to this the pleasure of watching recent Michael Lewis profile subjects

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-48024072591347571272009-05-05T09:04:00.003-05:002009-05-05T09:28:53.613-05:00

Killing the Buddha has a second installment of work on my extended family, this time from the sucrose-beached confines of Club Med Punta Cana.The downturn means I’m broke, not that I’m supposed to stop living. So when my Uncle Carl announced that he’d sign the bottom line for an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic, in January, my self-employed, 37-year-old pride did not get in the way. In

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-91559166650310518292009-04-28T09:25:00.003-05:002009-04-28T09:28:04.949-05:00

Thanks again, Felipe. No idea who to thank for collecting the photos.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-68159553374949004242009-04-26T09:30:00.003-05:002009-04-28T09:41:23.567-05:00

After the dart comes the fascination. Follow links for HD versions, and more footage from a 2500 fps camera.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-62429714117756185452009-04-09T08:13:00.002-05:002009-04-09T08:19:56.618-05:00

Fantastic web upstart Killing the Buddha published my meditation on Passover at sundown last night. Read it here. Seder, after all, means order. More from the Tepman family gatherings coming soon, with exercises in portraiture and storytelling.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-25622163518828690282009-04-06T20:41:00.005-05:002009-04-06T22:53:46.518-05:00

Come on down April 16 to 20 Cooper Square, my old NYU stomping grounds, and meet some smart folks championing the VQR, including Lawrence Weschler, Ted Conover, William Finnegan, and editor Ted Genoways. (Read Ted's Batman story from the February Outside Magazine here, and Weschler and Conover's contributions to the current VQR here and here.)Considering the illustrious company, I won't be saying

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-45053159601756899182009-03-21T09:11:00.004-05:002009-03-21T09:23:39.827-05:00

In the New York Times this Sunday:The Goat That Got AwayBy MATTHEW FISHBANEA FEW Sundays ago, between 2:53 and 2:56 a.m., a young man was seen loitering outside Cabrito, a Mexican bar and restaurant on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village. Security video showed the man walking, looking around and then climbing a railing. Soon after, a night watchman noticed that the restaurant’s signature sign,

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-81550986220011708382009-03-20T14:08:00.003-05:002009-03-20T14:12:27.117-05:00

Ok, I have no idea where this comes from, and I have Felipe to thank back in Bogota for passing it along. But whoever owns this animal is a genius.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-32489826373917573642009-03-10T20:00:00.003-05:002009-03-10T20:14:20.729-05:00

Glad to see John Otis and Scott Dalton out in the jungle -- always something interesting they come back with. This time, it's yajé:Read the story over at GlobalPost.I'd say that the idea is ripe for South Park, except that they already did it:

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-63464099446137319132009-03-10T15:55:00.004-05:002009-03-10T16:17:51.378-05:00

Nathan Harger is one of PDN's 30 new photographers to watch, and he also works the same high-contrast black on white of things strung and structural:Untitled (Powerlines), Elizabeth, NJ 2008Harger's working in a long tradition, maybe none more influential in this category than the documentary work of the FSA from 1935 to 1945, like this image of West Virgina telephone wires by John Vachon:I'm

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-41512871284594789892009-03-09T18:57:00.007-05:002009-03-09T19:57:56.376-05:00

(click to enlarge)Ok, so I said I had a thing for wires, and my site shows it. See Christopher Griffith's Power Tokyo project here (let the promo run for 5 secs, then the slideshow will appear). Meantime, we'll assume that somewhere a grad student is at work on a thesis called "The Grid: Power Lines and the Collectivist Art Naif." Until it's published, I'll keep looking up to admire what

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-12090054311827253562009-03-05T09:49:00.006-05:002009-03-05T10:22:21.184-05:00

Interesting argument from Elizabeth Dickinson over at FP on post-conflict tourism. I'm preparing a travel piece now about a remote region of Colombia and grappling with the problem of how to describe the risk. For years, a friend of mine talked about the suggestion of visiting Colombia in this way: "I'd go, but I'd never take responsibility for anyone else going." Has that changed now? Like I

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-16623586505840261512009-03-03T01:28:00.004-05:002009-03-03T01:32:13.812-05:00

I've updated my photo page. Please give it a visit.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-19595629137511489782009-02-28T15:10:00.002-05:002009-02-28T15:24:49.006-05:00

In the March issue of Outside, a series of interviews I did with do-it-yourself innovators. It's a five-page spread that explores the mentality of people who just did it, from an urban farmer to treehouse makers to a bike-frame-builder who specializes in women.One thing they all had in common: sticking with it. I hope this comes through in the interviews. At first, they are just people doing

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-50907105558239202552009-02-27T20:53:00.002-05:002009-02-28T15:07:34.499-05:00

Sound and photos are my own..

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-76746978730948938672009-02-27T18:03:00.001-05:002009-02-27T18:03:50.991-05:00

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-11527263912930565252009-01-23T09:23:00.005-05:002009-01-23T09:49:35.027-05:00

SONIA. You love no one?ASTROFF. Not a soul. I only feel a sort of tenderness for your old nursefor old-times' sake. The peasants are all alike; they are stupid andlive in dirt, and the educated people are hard to get along with. Onegets tired of them. All our good friends are petty and shallow and seeno farther than their own noses; in one word, they are dull. Those thathave brains are hysterical

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-36550319007545802512009-01-22T11:05:00.002-05:002009-01-22T11:15:37.602-05:00

Yeah, but an architect costs money.(thanks to Felipe for the tip.)

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-65460723706038280382009-01-20T16:54:00.003-05:002009-01-20T17:05:38.815-05:00

New Jersey Turnpike. Going 65. Snowing. Someone cut me off. I took evasive action. Lost control. Rammed into the rail. Spun around. Hit a guy in the next lane. Sat trembling for a while, out of cold and out of fear. Cops came, wearing baby blue. Asked me if I'd fallen asleep. "No," I said. "I lost control." Got a summons for careless driving. Tow truck arrived. Hauled me and my car off the

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-3645636095388000622009-01-12T23:20:00.003-05:002009-01-13T08:32:47.145-05:00

The Winter Jazzfest, January 2009(Thanks, memend, for the happy new gear.)

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-66782300432358855142009-01-08T08:52:00.003-05:002009-01-08T09:06:07.632-05:00

Colombian military escort the forensic team in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta.In its Winter 2009 issue, the Virginia Quarterly Review publishes my report on the exhumation of victims of paramilitary violence in Colombia. Complex, gruesome and under-reported, the injustices of Colombia's vast paramilitary power remain unresolved. Here's what happens when the trappings of order are cynically

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-37659643214943853452009-01-04T12:13:00.003-05:002009-01-08T12:07:44.928-05:00

NYC, December 2008

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-40134902661048890472009-01-04T11:50:00.005-05:002009-01-07T13:15:13.622-05:00

Jacob's Ladder, NYC

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-45598801190392537822008-11-04T15:46:00.003-05:002008-11-04T15:51:18.939-05:00

I'm ending my stint here as a contributor to Outside's blog, but look for more bylines in the magazine. A final field test entry:Field Tested: BaileyWorks Messenger Bag Was it North Face that pioneered expedition-class gear as casual wear? I can't pinpoint it, but some time in the 1990's, I remember seeing people walking down the streets of New York with scuba gear on a rainy day. Hey, I'm all

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-35889320442935314362008-10-23T11:48:00.003-05:002008-10-23T11:56:44.209-05:00

Seven Days in the DesertDEAN KARNAZES talks about racing in the most extreme conditions on earth.The Ultramarathon Man wants to be the first person to complete all four legs of the 4 Deserts race series in one year. He survived the Gobi March and the Atacama Crossing, which he won last March. Next up, the Sahara Race—scheduled to begin this Sunday in Bahariya, Egypt—and the Last Desert, at the

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-88408016773839596432008-10-21T10:56:00.001-05:002008-10-21T10:57:24.254-05:00

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-77595281631739855552008-10-10T14:01:00.004-05:002008-10-10T14:09:05.519-05:00

An addendum to the Earl Blumenauer saga. The New York Times noticed that Congressman Blumenauer had inserted the bike commuter act into the $700 billion bailout bill.But they also noted that Congressman Blumenauer voted against the bill.Bicyclers, collect your $20-a-month credit starting in January, and think of our bike-lapel-pin-wearing hero when you do.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-63795259415752180202008-10-10T12:58:00.007-05:002008-10-10T13:10:33.049-05:00

Outside's October issue is now online.(photo by Sand Paper, on flickr)The Big IdeaRise and Stall of the Moto-TaxiWhat gets 50 miles per gallon but not a second look in the U.S.?A COUPLE of years ago, while living in Cambodia, I stumbled onto a sketchy street on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. My Khmer was good enough for me to understand that the residents really didn't want me around but not good

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-30902401649346059192008-09-30T14:46:00.003-05:002008-09-30T14:53:59.858-05:00

Outside goes live today with an interactive review of events on K2 last August.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-86077028119322205962008-09-26T12:13:00.003-05:002008-09-26T12:20:51.871-05:00

Two Wheeled ActBike-friendly Congressman Earl Blumenauer talks to Outside’s Matthew Fishbane.Tucked deep down behind the new leases for off-shore drilling in the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, a broad energy bill that the House passed last week , were the tiny remains of something called the Bicycle Commuter Act. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, of Oregon's Third

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-25669446795318412702008-09-12T14:56:00.008-05:002008-09-12T15:07:03.795-05:00

What's the Big Idea?Why have moto-taxis --those clever, efficient little tuk-tuks and boda-bodas that move people everywhere else-- never made it to the U.S.? That's the premise of this month's Big Idea column I wrote for Outside, on newsstands now.(Online in a couple of weeks.)

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-72176959875930200492008-08-25T16:39:00.005-05:002008-08-25T16:53:51.963-05:00

In the Sierra Nevada, 2007I've got a brief on the forgotten victims of paramilitary violence in Colombia in this month's Walrus, Canadian magazine of the year winner.SIERRA NEVADA DE SANTA MARTA — I’m trudging down the lower slopes above the city of Santa Marta with a black plastic bag of human bones dangling like a scarf bundle from the handle of my shovel. An assistant to the forensic

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-60750851966905181522008-08-09T11:03:00.002-05:002008-08-09T11:26:40.383-05:00

I'm at Outside now. I write and edit there, and contribute to the blog regularly. Here's a sample of some recent stuff:Field Tested: Tacx Fortius VR TrainerTwenty-one switchbacks on the legendary Alpe d'Huez. I can tell you what it's like to ride them. I just did. Last night. In my living room. Perched on the amazing Tacx Fortius VR Trainer. To give you a sense of it, and to best simulate

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-73093534508641271542008-05-04T22:56:00.001-05:002008-05-04T22:59:01.608-05:00

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-41005273457317336192008-03-31T15:49:00.002-05:002008-03-31T16:40:01.435-05:00

Bogota, Barrio Santo Domingo, by excusa2RevisitingA new golden age for travel writing? In the Guardian (U.K.) The Times put the death of Dith Pran front and center over the weekend, including their slightly-creepy "The Last Word" obituary video series. And the trials? Nuon Chea's not getting any younger.An interesting take on the buzzed-about "implosion" of the FARC, from the CIP. In response,

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-46234006149110542862008-03-24T22:58:00.003-05:002008-03-24T23:14:47.824-05:00

photo: mr. ëd, flickrAndrew Revkin muses today in Dot Earth on the problem of complexity in newspaper coverage. He's talking about frogs, by way of example, and the post is worth a thorough read (especially following through on to this link to a discussion from On the Media), but his larger topic is the way complex, shifting topics get explained in the press.What’s a journalist (or citizen) to

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-72276513534221832772008-03-17T10:35:00.002-05:002008-03-17T11:24:12.802-05:00

Fernando Vergara / AP, from hereborders and migrationsJason DeParle takes a look at the World Bank, in the eighth installment of his globe-trotting series in the New York Times, Border Crossings.New York City accents, from the free daily AM New York. (Feb. 20: I'm late to it, but if you haven't come across this, give a listen.)The bizarre spectacle of the concert "Paz Sin Fronteras" on a border

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-56910412091769954612008-03-17T10:32:00.002-05:002008-03-17T10:35:28.609-05:00

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-46441065852616990802008-02-27T16:20:00.007-05:002008-02-27T18:38:08.913-05:00

photo: El Tiempo -- (left to right) Luis Eladio Pérez, Jorge Eduardo Géchem, Gloria Polanco and Orlando Beltrán.With the news today of the release of four former Colombian lawmakers after more than six years in captivity, came a statement from the FARC declaring an end to "unilateral liberations," until demands for a New-York-City-sized distension zone is conceded to the rebels. Good news for

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-657897976958124302008-02-27T12:04:00.003-05:002008-02-27T12:50:39.713-05:00

Photo: Luis Perez, flickr -- stationary bike in ChocóEl Tiempo today paints an odd portrait of the Pacific coastal town of Nuqui, Chocó, where, the article leads, 7 people have recently lost their jobs.They lost their jobs in this remote beach front, accessible only by air and sea, because last month 6 Colombian tourists were taken hostage by the FARC. Nuqui, and the national parks nearby, are a

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-33791375983800616792008-02-21T19:28:00.009-05:002008-03-28T10:38:24.890-05:00

photo: REUTERS - 24/11/2003 (from El Pais) -- Reinhilt Weigel (brandishing an automatic), Asier Huegun Exteberría and members of what turned out to be the first division of the ELN to lay down arms.What if kidnapping were treated more like a disease than a crime? You may remember the case of Reinhilt Weigel, a German national who was kidnapped in 2003 along with a Spaniard, a Brit and four

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-68908754517920711152008-02-18T09:44:00.002-05:002008-02-18T10:37:16.866-05:00

They've been growing coca for the past two decades. Waves of drug mafiosi, then paramilitary bosses, now guerrilla have reaped power and money from the region's farmers. Now the Colombian government has moved in with 3,000 eradicators and a security escort of 1,800 national police. The plan is to rip up coca plants one by one. In response, thousands of growers have gathered in the region's

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-73935703131439441192008-02-14T11:29:00.005-05:002008-02-14T11:33:25.090-05:00

Photos of Immokalee, Florida

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-82736675945167101552008-02-07T13:33:00.000-05:002008-02-09T13:01:04.048-05:00

Turns out the Andeans give Miami a skip. They prefer the restaurant kitchens of the New Jersey and New York areas and don't really have a foothold in the capital of Latin America. These are the time-honed patterns of immigration: pioneers taking root, bringing their friends and family. Yesterday I spent the day chasing after the Ecuadorian and Peruvian communities in Miami, and found out that

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-67183970308767767482008-02-05T18:13:00.001-05:002008-02-13T15:11:14.445-05:00

Down in Miami poking around the capital of Latin America, catching up with a couple of local promoters of technocumbia, just possibly the world's worst music. It's a phenomenon that mixes many of the things I'm interested in right now: how immigrants bring their past and homes with them across countries, why they like to stay in touch with what they knew before, and how new technologies change

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-51038883199617197842008-01-28T12:13:00.000-05:002008-01-28T13:02:13.523-05:00

photo: BuzzSugarHere's the throwaway line that caught my interest:The Colombian version was canceled in October after a woman confessed on the show that she had hired someone to kill her husband.So ends a late paragraph in Alessandra Stanley's review of "The Moment of Truth," a Fox reality-TV offering this season. The show's basic premise is to ask increasingly intimate questions and reward

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-28228266932118821062007-09-27T10:56:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:38:39.744-05:00

Hermione Lee talks to Philip Roth in this week's New Yorker, and says something that, applied to the global soul, has particular resonance.People go in search of ghosts whenever they return, after a long absence, to a place where they once lived. Who of us has returned to a childhood home or a city that may have figured prominently in his biography without knowing full well that seeing it again

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-81836121016536377452007-09-24T20:27:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:39:47.220-05:00

Colombia's "El Tiempo" daily reports today on the capture and confinement of a drug smuggler near the Venezuelan border. Police report that the suspect, discovered hiding in a large agricultural sack on a bus, had several bags of coca paste, the basis for cocaine, tied to his legs and wings. The police further note that the suspect was a chicken. The chicken, reports Colonel Richard Portilla,

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-9909398582409614672007-06-26T16:17:00.001-05:002008-01-15T13:40:23.407-05:00

Why can't I order out for some good kuy thiew in New York City, supposed food capital of the world? My answer (and some of my nostalgia) at Salon.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-665370648472961862007-05-08T04:21:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:41:05.954-05:00

Read my piece on Colombian adoptee Jen Cerami in this month's Inthefray.org.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-61288922325507338262007-04-27T09:43:00.000-05:002007-04-27T10:30:38.696-05:00

View from Hunter College, 8th floorPico Iyer, in conversation with Hal Wake, at the PEN World Voices festival. The "faculty dining room" looks out over what you see above (roughly), and Pico recognizes right away that the audience is made of global souls like himself, to whom he is able to speak without too much explanation. People, that is, with some firsthand understanding of the difference

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-55763311984232226192007-04-17T15:59:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:41:35.097-05:00

Wat Bronx (my photo)At the northern tip of Mr. Beller's Neighborhood is what passes for New York's Little Cambodia.Find out Wat is the Wat.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-68156074193899153312007-04-12T15:20:00.000-05:002007-04-13T09:39:00.741-05:00

It must be spring: the writers are aswarm.The PEN World Voices festival runs April 24-29, with topics close to OPP's heart. Wednesday's program:Writers explore what binds us to home and what holds us apart from it, and why home, or the idea of it, is or isn’t worth dying and killing for. How do we find home, and, when we lose it, how do we make a new one? Why do we leave home and why do we long

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-39977106510471734852007-04-08T09:39:00.000-05:002007-04-13T10:11:32.382-05:00

Ever wonder where the focus is for US foreign policy in Latin America? The CIP has compiled some truly eloquent graphs.For a clearer view, the original post from Adam Isacson, here. Note that the scales are the same for each pair of charts, in case you thought there was distortion.Military and Police Aid to Latin America, by Program, 1997-2006:Military and Police Aid to Latin America by Program

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-77469108056562922292007-03-23T11:21:00.000-05:002007-03-23T12:04:01.027-05:00

(photo: USSOUTHCOM)The Center for International Policy's Adam Isacson, back from a two-day conference at Southern Command, describes in today's Plan Colombia and Beyond post bravely standing before a room full of Latin American military brass, and telling them that Costa Rica, which renounced its standing army in 1948, has got it right.He deserves some kind of NGO Purple Heart -- the Purple

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-25299275866636179702007-03-15T11:41:00.000-05:002007-03-15T12:37:34.578-05:00

The caption from iJET's website: "iJET's Intelligence Operations and Response Center provides clients with 24x7 threat assessments and intelligence for more than 180 countries and 280 cities worldwide."Most people don't know that three Americans have been held hostage in Colombia for over four years. Here's how the AP reminded us of the contract workers' existence prior to Bush's trip south.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-24108884636613991402007-03-12T13:54:00.000-05:002007-03-12T18:29:02.218-05:00

So, how did the visit go?Photo: Héctor Fabio Zamora, El TiempoAnd another summing up, from the voice of the president himself.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-82657309214955501962007-03-08T16:45:00.000-05:002007-03-08T16:47:41.209-05:00

click to enlarge Adam Isacson, of the Center for International Policy, reminds us today in his truly wonderful Plan Colombia and Beyond blog, not to believe reports that US aid to Latin America has doubled under Dubya.

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-61241266866288316122007-03-08T16:27:00.000-05:002007-03-10T12:12:54.605-05:00

click on the image while you still can.Meanwhile, the Colombian foreign office has its knickers all in a twist about a caricature Amnesty International put out just ahead of Bush's visit.Watch it, and see for yourself if it warrants this response from Minister of Foreign Relations, Fernando Araujo Perdomo:Deseo expresar mi más profundo rechazo y enérgica protesta por el contenido y publicación de

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-3396973711755925212007-03-08T15:44:00.000-05:002007-03-11T10:42:48.622-05:00

The sign top right says "Welcome to Bogota"Dubya is headed south, and Colombian counterpart Uribe does not want anything bad to happen to the man who signs $4 billion cheques each year. Hence the tank roll out, swinging two elite troops up from the guerrilla-controlled southern plains, and preparing 22,000 military police to patrol not just the caravan route, but every corner of this city of 8

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-84268568816632232732007-03-04T13:58:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:42:36.894-05:00

I suppose by now drug seizures in Colombia are so routine they don't even warrant a wire report. After all, yesterday's was a good 500 lbs. short of a ton, and, being camouflaged in a boxes of jam jars, was hardly the world-class deception that resourceful Colombians have dreamed up in the past: a submarine in the Andes, pure-bred puppies, specially-welded steel coils, to name just a few.Ever

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-58567690242703167392007-03-01T10:16:00.000-05:002007-03-01T10:41:56.641-05:00

Catholic World News reports that the Vatican will be providing Chinese translations of important documents out of the Holy See, as it continues to repair rifts with China.Fine, but check out the Holy See website! Vatican never had reason to pinch pennies (oh, wait: there's Peter's Pence) and someone splurged on some servers in some room with frescoes, so the Vatican can have flashy intros and

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-20261171187816136422007-02-21T14:07:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:43:26.396-05:00

That's the way things are these days. You have an idea, you go with it. This is what happened with Maria Gomez, a Colombian anthropologist working as an enthnographer at CUNY.As part of my fieldwork, I was interviewing "latino immigrants" in the Bronx, and I thought it would be interesting to show life stories as opposed to statistics, and to create an experimental project that involved my own

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-39282675073813555822007-02-17T10:36:00.000-05:002007-02-17T11:06:57.269-05:00

An intuitive speculation on globalizing trends: there should be more inter-ethnic and inter-racial marriages today than ever in America, right? The more global we get, the less our racial, cultural and ethnic backgrounds should matter, right? Wrong.A new study finds that intermarriages (as a percentage of total marriages) declined between 1990 and 2000, reversing a thirty year trend. How did

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-23524498290374159692007-02-14T09:12:00.000-05:002007-02-14T11:02:53.471-05:00

Buying or sending roses for Valentine's? Chances are they came from Colombia. Three out of every 4 roses in America originate from the greenhouses of Colombia's Andean plateau, with each rose averaging out to somewhere between $3 and $4, almost entirely in transport and retail mark-up.Strangely, this is not widely known (to wit: today's Times op-ed on flowers with no mention of Colombia),

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-77692178326488083812007-02-12T07:49:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:45:03.317-05:00

(IOM in Colombia)Over the weekend, El Tiempo covered the publication of an important study on Colombian migration. The study, "Colombia: migrations, transnationalism y displacement," was directed by National University anthropologist Gerardo Ardila, for the Centro de Estudios Sociales.Besides shoring up data on the astonishing number of Colombians overseas (over 4 million of 44 million total),

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-24224773961305466002007-02-11T16:50:00.000-05:002007-02-13T18:41:35.565-05:00

Can you spot the Virgin? (photo)Rob Walker's wonderful "Consumed" column in this week's Sunday Times Magazine has finally got to the basics of niche marketing to ethnic minorities, especially once they become large, collectively-deep-pocketed minorities such as Hispanics today.The case in point is Pizza Patron, which sells "más pizza" for "menos dinero." Go to the store locator on the website

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-68201955726988863442007-02-10T17:34:00.000-05:002008-01-15T13:44:23.387-05:00

El Tiempo narrates the deportation of a Colombian who had lived in Miami for seven years. But it's just a straight chronicle of events, names changed, no analysis, just the one statistic indicating at least 1,742 Colombian deportees last year and nearly 190,000 total deportations (some completed from previous pending cases) to all countries last year in America.En la tarde, dos agentes lo

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-89487516922633246912007-02-09T10:10:00.000-05:002007-02-10T14:07:11.657-05:00

a street dancer in Paris, by Denis DarzacqWinner this year, but strangely in the arts and entertainment category, of the World Press Photo for his portfolio called "la chute," or The Fall, Denis Darzacq has turned the uglier Paris into an aquarium of wonder. If it is an arts story, it's a powerful allegory of life on the French fringe. These photos were taken following the well-publicized riots

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-61227813280929033932007-02-06T10:44:00.000-05:002007-02-09T10:42:48.136-05:00

The Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture is one of those hidden international gathering places in New York, oddly cosmpolitain, painfully connected to world realities. Dr. Allen S. Keller has run the program since its inception, and was profiled by Jan Hoffman of the Times in 2003. Tina Rosenberg, who has written extensively on the effects of violence on people in developing countries,

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-15935552325758747962007-02-04T12:45:00.000-05:002007-02-09T11:27:14.411-05:00

Where do I belong? NIRUPAMA HEGDE She is a second generation Indian studying in the tenth grade,

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-72620351183795581022007-02-03T12:00:00.000-05:002007-02-05T12:57:01.334-05:00

A follow-up on those 1500 Cambodians who were deported, in what immigration observers agreed was a bizarre and tragic case of systems failure: Cambodia was deemed recovered enough to handle its own criminals. In a series of three-strikes-you're-out type rulings against immigrants who had never bothered (or been unable to) take U.S. citizenship, judges across Cambodian enclaves in the U.S. were

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-47453904990408196872007-02-01T09:05:00.000-05:002007-02-01T14:41:04.428-05:00

Here's how Colombia works. It's perfectly laid out in today's El Tiempo, the last large paper in the country, if I can just deconstruct for you what's actually going on.For the ninth year now, Bogota, a city of over 8 million people, is having a no-car day. That means that private vehicles are outlawed from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm. The info-graphic above tells us that 1.2 million cars will stay in

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093651325887178472.post-37831472598411148722007-01-30T10:16:00.000-05:002007-01-30T10:36:36.305-05:00

Following the grand jury prize at Sundance going to "Padre Nuestro," I wrote a news brief for the largest-circulation daily in Bogota, El Tiempo. The reporting was then gamely stolen and bizarrely credited to the Spanish wire news agency EFE. I guess I became a cross-cultural stringer there, with quotes I gathered listed "as told to" Matthew Fishbane. Other words and descriptions from my

Matthew Fishbanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10734867861004339288noreply@blogger.com0