John Ysursa is near-omnipresent in the Basque community of the United States. He’s seemingly at every festival, he’s a central part of Boise State University’s Basque program, and he has authored a book on Basque dance. His enthusiasm for all things Basque – particularly how to get others excited about the Basque culture – is […]
The Basques have always enjoyed a high level of rights and autonomy, at least relative to their neighbors. These are embedded in the revered Fueros. However, as European nobility became more powerful, the common man lost more and more autonomy and rights. In France, the centralization of power in the hands of the king led […]
Moments later, Kepa materialized seemingly out of nowhere next to Maite. “Zer…?” he began. Looking at Maite, he asked “What is going on?” “We’re in Garuna’s mind,” replied Maite. “What?” he exclaimed. “Why?” “Garuna wants to go with us.” “Go with us? Where?” “Our own time.” “Can it do that?” Maite nodded. “It can, but […]
Sometimes, it seems that the very idea of being Basque is inherently full of contradictions. Perhaps this is a consequence of not having their own country, of being split into two different regimes with two different external cultures influencing them. Miguel de Unamuno is perhaps one of the most important Basque intellectuals, certainly of the […]
Maite looked around. She expected to find herself back at the airport in Bilbao, in her own time. She expected to see the long hallways and, out the glass windows, the green mountainsides that were so familiar. But, instead, all she saw was darkness. “Kaixo?” she said, almost in a whisper, her voice trailing off […]
During the week of October 25-28, Zumaia, a small town of about 10,000 people, hosted an event celebrating the 60th anniversary of the IUGS – the International Union of Geological Sciences. At this meeting, the IUGS announced the first 100 geoheritage sites, “key place[s] with geological elements and/or processes of scientific international relevance, used as […]
Dad died seven years ago this Thanksgiving. I miss you, dad. When I was a kid, seemed to be always working. He wanted to be at the haystack by dawn, so he’d get up in the dark of night, sometimes waking me or one of my brothers to go with him, and head out while […]
“Where is the AI?” asked Kepa. “We have to find it.” Latxe just shook her head, her eyes staring at the spot where de Lancre once stood, the only thing left a red stain on the floor. “What’s the point? We can’t stop it.” “Don’t we have to try?” asked Kepa, grabbing Latxe’s shoulders and […]
On Monday, my feeds blew up. A new discovery – a bronze relic dating back some 2100 years – shook the Basque world. This relic – of a hand, likely an amulet of good fortune – had words written on it in (an ancestor to) Basque in a unique runic script. This discovery – the […]
“What…?” said de Lancre as he stared in disbelief at the empty black sphere floating in front of him. He looked up to Maite and Kepa, suspicion in his eyes, until he shook his head. “No, you don’t have it. The bubble would have burst if you somehow got it.” “I have it,” said a […]
