All posts by buber

Fighting Basques: Pete T. Cenarrusa, Love for All Things Basque

This article originally appeared in Basque and Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on November 23, 2021. In memory of Gorka Aulestia (1932-2021) Pete Cenarrusa passed away on September 29, 2013 at the age of 95 in Boise, Idaho. With him we lost possibly one of the last figures of his time to go down in history for […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Sancheski, Skateboard Pioneer

Who knew the Basque Country had a pioneer in skateboarding? Not me! Sancheski, based in Irun, Gipuzkoa, made the first skateboard in all of Europe in 1966. Like Orbea, the company had to reimagine itself when times got hard and new opportunities arose. Starting off as a ski company back in the 1930s, they shifted […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 94

“I’ll distract those things,” said Marina. “You two get out of here.” She handed Maite a small object. “Meet me here.” “Non?” asked Maite, looking at the object in her hand. It looked like one of those die Dungeons and Dragons players used, except there were no markings on the faces. “How do we use […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Cosme Damián de Churruca y Elorza, Scientist and Sailor

The late 1700s were a turbulent time for Europe, with the United States declaring independence and Napoleon trying to conquer the continent. It was also a time in which scientific enlightenment was crescendoing, leading to many people having both distinguished military and political careers as well as making important contributions to science. According to Julio […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 93

“Zer?!?” exclaimed Maite. “De Lancre is here too?” Marina, or at least the woman whom Marina was possessing, nodded her head. “Bai. And he’s been here a while. He’s somehow worked himself up in the government. He’s an advisor to the lehendakari.” “The Lehendakari?” asked Kepa. “We still have our own president?” Marina nodded again. […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Bilbo, the Capital of Bizkaia

Though my dad grew up in Bizkaia, because I lived in Donostia when I spent my year abroad in the Basque Country, I never really got to know the capital of his home province. Bilbo always seemed a bit foreboding, a bit too big for me to grasp during a day excursion. Of course, I’ve […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 92

Kepa threw his arms around the taller woman. “Am I glad to see you!” he said. “I didn’t want to have to do another one of these alone.” Maite gave him a cold stare. “You know what I mean,” said Kepa. “Alone, just the two of us. It would be nice to have more help […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Canadian Hall of Fame Quarterback Sam Etcheverry

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, the culmination of the National Football League’s season, which saw star quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Dak Prescott light up the field (yeah, these last two are on my fantasy football team, so I might be biased; and I’m rooting for the Bengals!). However, there’s another league, […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 91

“Who…?” began Maite. “Shush!” hissed the figure. “Follow me.” Without waiting, the figure strode through the crowd. Maite looked at Kepa who simply shrugged. They took off after the figure, who was weaving and dodging the various people in front of it almost as if it anticipated where they would be. Maite and Kepa had […]

Fighting Basques: Three Basque-Navarrese families from California in World War II

This article originally appeared in Spanish at El Diario on October 9, 2019. The bertsolaris Fernando Aire Etxart “Xalbador” from Nafarroa Beherea and Mattin Treku Inharga of Lapurdi arrived in the United States in June 1960 to participate for a month in the Basque festivals of La Puente, Bakersfield (both in California), and Reno (Nevada), […]