This one is a bit technical and maybe the Basque connection is a little loose, but (nerd alert!) I think this is fascinating. Crowd dynamics or simulation is a field in which scientists try to understand how collections of people move and how that movement changes when conditions change. Think of crowds and how they […]
With the World Cup, the world is ablaze with soccer fever. With several premier teams, the Basque Country has a strong association with soccer. There are a number of Basque players participating in the World Cup as part of the national teams of Spain, Ghana, Mexico, and Japan – Euskal Kazeta has a nice writeup […]
We were recently in Boise to celebrate my daughter’s high school graduation with her grandparents (Zorionak Rose!) and while there stopped by the Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga house – if you’ve never been there, it provides a great look into a Basque boarding house. In any case, there was a small exhibit on bola jokoa, or the […]
by Sancho de Beurko Association In recent weeks, one family contacted Sancho de Beurko, a nonprofit historical association based in the Basque Country and responsible for the “Fighting Basques” research project, asking about relatives lost during World War II. Beyond a few names and fragmented recollections, very little about them had survived within the family over […]
On Saturday, June 6, 2026, my dad’s sister Rosario Uberuaga Zabala died. She was on her balcony, tending her flowers, when she was struck by a heart attack. I first met Rosario in 1991, when I went to live in the Basque Country. Like most of dad’s family, I never knew her growing up. I […]
This one will maybe resonate more for those from Idaho. Idaho is famous for potatoes and there his a lot of research in the state devoted to the potato – for example at the University of Idaho. Other places also have such efforts, including in the Basque Country where the Experimental Potato Farm of Iturrieta […]
Today would have been dad’s 82nd birthday. Dad came to the United States when he was 18 years old to be a sheepherder. But, when I was growing up, I knew him as a truck driver, hauling hay to the local dairies. He started out working for his childhood friend Felix Anchustegui, also from Munitibar, […]
The season of Basque festivals in the western United States is upon us. All across the west, Basque clubs and communities hold celebrations of Basque culture and history, recognizing their ancestors who braved unknown lands to build a better life for themselves. Elko, Nevada, hosts one of the largest Basque festivals in the country, second […]
Last week I wrote about the women Erraketistak, professional racket ball players that were pioneers in the world of women’s sport. One of the very best to ever play was Maria Antonia Uzkudun, also known as Txikita de Anoeta. She began playing professionally at the age of 13 and had a stellar career that took […]
While women have played sport for as long as humans have existed, it is only recently that that they have had the opportunity to play professionally, to make sport a career. In the early 1900s, women, primarily from the Basque Country, pioneered a professional league of racket ball that at one time dominated the professional […]