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Travel Videos

The dancers of the Cubaldunes group used their waiting time in the Barajas Airport in Madrid in the best way possible. They had fun and so did those of us watching.

These travel videos tell short stories about people and places you might want to visit. You may never physically get there, but we hope the videos give you a flavor of who we met, what we saw and what we enjoyed.

 These travel videos tell short stories about people and places you might want to visit. You may never physically get there, but we hope the videos give you a flavor of who we met, what we saw and what we enjoyed.

The Royal Guard marches through Stockholm during the spring and summer months and puts on a good show.

 These travel videos tell short stories about people and places you might want to visit. You may never physically get there, but we hope the videos give you a flavor of who we met, what we saw and what we enjoyed.

Take a peak at Niagara Falls

Or visit the Badlands of North Dakota with us.

You’ll see spice seller Alexandro Romano. He happily offered a tip for a simple, delicious pasta dish that’s a favorite in Sicily and on the island of Ortigia where he has a stand.

In Madrid’s Barajas Airport, Ernesto Miari and members of the group Cubaldunes Salsa danced while they waited for a plane. Some people watched but the dancers didn’t seem interested in what others thought. From what we could see, they danced for pure enjoyment.

 

In Cagliari, Sardinia we watched a marching band play in a square below the castle.

On the island of Sant’Antioco off the coast of Sardinia, we found that locals fill up with wine, at the Sardus Pater enoteca, just like you do at a gas station. 

When we wandered a long a canal in Venice, a singer on a gondola stopped the tourist traffic. Everyone wanted to listen and take photos. 

 

You can find small coves in Sicily with sand beaches and only a handful of people. We took a short walk on Realmonte, Sicily 

On the island of Ortigia, off of Syracuse, Sicily, we saw a local man fixing his TV antenna.  Sounds sort of ordinary. But then you see that the antenna  faces the ruins of the temple of Apollo. So you have to wonder if Apollo put the hex on it.

In the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain water played a central role in the architecture.  You hear the gentle sound of water running into the pools and waterfalls wherever you walk. The Nasrid sultans also used the water to feed livestock and water the gardens. Today, the water still comes up from the Dano River to the portion of the fortress called the Generalife and gets distributed through an aqueduct.

Fountains envelope the visitor in the beauty and tranquility of the Alhambra.

 

Down the hill from the Alhambra, we found famed guitar maker Francisco Manuel Diaz. 

Young People Speak Out About The Garner Case 2

by Courtney Knuckles

On Wednesday, December 3 at about 7:19 p.m., I was hit with another reality check about the downside to being black in America.

I don’t know if it’s coincidence or something else, but I’ve always been with my father when not-guilty verdicts in cases involving police officers and black men came down. We heard about Sean Bell and Trayvon Martin when were together. Each time our reaction was the same. I’m not sure what was worse, my feeling of extreme nausea or seeing the look of anguish and defeat on my father’s face.

We sat on our couch and stared at the television as prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch announced to the world that police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The sting of that decision was fresh in our minds when we took our places in front of the TV after we heard the Garner grand jury had finished its work.  We believed a different outcome was in store for police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the Eric Garner case.

After all, the incident was on cellphone video. You heard  Eric Garner pleading. And you watched in horror as he shouted, “I can’t breathe,” while officer Pantaleo put him in an illegal chokehold. Unlike Michael Brown’s final moments,  millions saw Eric Garner’s struggle.

My father and I watched the video and we were certain his death was a homicide and the New York City Medical Examiner confirmed our view.

Considering the overwhelming amount of evidence, we could not understand how a grand jury could decide not to indict this police officer. And when we heard the verdict, I couldn’t believe it. Then I thought, “They couldn’t have seen the same tape that I saw.” And then I got angry.

The phrase “no indictment” cut deep to the core. It told me that a group of human beings sat down and decided that killing another human being was not even worth a trial. They essentially said what happened to Eric Garner deserved no further deliberation because the police officer did the right thing.

As much as I would like to believe that racism does not play a factor in Garner’s case, it is hard to ignore what is painfully obvious. Over the past decade police officers killed nine unarmed black men. In almost all of these cases the police officers were white.

I am a young African-American woman and the pattern of police officers killing black men makes me lose faith in America’s judicial system. I feel insecure about my five-year-old daughter.  Will I have to protect my daughter from the very people that she should trust? What if I decide to have more children? I detest the fact that I am nervous about the possibility of bringing a male child into a world where his life doesn’t matter to some.

Garner Verdict Times Square Protest

But I have a powerful faith in my generation. As I prepare to protest the killing of Eric Garner, I’m happy to say that I can march side-by-side with people of different nationalities and backgrounds.  We all  realize that his killing was morally wrong.

I can only hope that the unity displayed during these protests will spark a movement powerful enough to change a corrupt system.