June 2013

  • Walking and visiting Europe seem to go hand-in-hand. It is a wonderful exercise, especially when you get to wander through Park Güell in Barcelona. I am sure I walked more in one afternoon at the park then I do in a week back home in Athens, Georgia. From the metro, or underground, I walked up […]

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  • Are you an “energy vampire?”   If you live in an apartment in the central part of the building you may be sucking energy from neighboring flats.  In Hungary people who live in the central apartments are referred to as energy vampires.  (In the U.S. this term has a slightly different meaning.) The European Union […]

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  • Pick up trash on beach

    What moves you to take action? The Turkish Government’s plan to replace the last significant green space in central Istanbul with a shopping mall is what activated a group of young people in Istanbul. I do not advocate violence, but I do understand the frustration of young people who know their voices are not being […]

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  • cooking catalan food

    Why is it that when we travel foods we normally do not eat taste so much better?  While in Tarragona I tried several local and traditional foods. One day for lunch I enjoyed Andalusian Gazpacho and Paella. Back home I would never eat gazpacho, because it always seems to have green bell peppers in it […]

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  • humans tower

    Building a tower of humans is an old Catalan tradition. The “castellers” form these human pyramids, which are called castells (Catalan word for castles). They can be up to 10 persons tall, which the lightest and youngest members of the team (colla) at the top. this is both a cultural and sporting event. it represents […]

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  • Catalonia is an autonomous region within Spain that is home to the beautiful cities of Barcelona and Tarragona.  As I walked around these cities, I was fascinated by the windows and the coverings over them that help keep the sun out.  It is an old idea, but one that is obviously still used. I saw […]

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  • Tarragona

    I am leaving the family behind and flying off to Spain in a few days to participate in the European Network for Housing Research conference.  I have attended this conference one other time – in Prague – and it was fantastic! I am looking forward to learning and sharing what I learn about housing and […]

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  • pick up trash

    I just finished watching Bill Moyers’s interview of Biologist, mother and activist Sandra Steingraber. This made me stop and think about how I approach my life as an activist, my life as an educator, my life as a Change Agent. in the video Ms. Steingraber discussed how we all have a different set of skills […]

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  • I once had a boss who dismissed women as farmers and the importance of domestic history to agricultural history this slide show visually relates the importance of women to farming today and to agricultural history.

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  • This week I participated in an informative blogging workshop taught by Tara Dunn for the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences Cooperative Extension.  She did a fantastic job of helping all of the participants develop blogs and better understand and use online communication. Blogs are a great way to share research and […]

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