All posts by buber

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 128

“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 […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Hand of Irulegi, the Oldest Text in Euskara

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 […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 127

“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 […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Early History of Baiona

Baiona, or Bayonne as it is known in French and English, is one of the jewels of the coast of Iparralde. A historically important port, it was a thriving economic center during various phases of its history. It has also changed hands many times, being part of the Kingdom of Pamplona, England, and France over […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 126

De Lancre was on his knees, curled up in a near fetal position, as Kepa and Maite approached him. They watched as his arms twisted in unnatural ways, the nanobots fixing the broken limbs and torn flesh. He was much more serene as the nanobots must also have been administering some local anesthetic, which made […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Pedro Altube, Father of Basques in America

Thomas Jefferson. John Adams. Benjamin Franklin. George Washington. These are the founding fathers of what would become the United States of America. The Basque community in the United States has, in some sense, our own founding father. Along with his brother Bernardo, Pedro Altube was the catalyst of the Basques’ strong role in the livestock […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 125

The three of them carefully made their way to what they presumed was de Lancre’s master suite, the nanobots creating new doorways for them as they went. De Lancre’s suite was in the center of the floor, presumably to best shield it from any outside forces.  Latxe jabbed at the tablet again and a new […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Basque Sheepherder

Most of us who have Basque heritage in the western United States trace that connection to the Basque sheepherders that, in years past, dotted the entire western landscape. My dad came over when he was 18 years old, drawn by the promise of economic opportunity and his three uncles who were already here herding. These […]

The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 124

Latxe jabbed and swiped at her tablet. A bridge started materializing across the gap between the balcony and the building across the way. It wasn’t very wide, and didn’t look very secure, just floating like that. “We can’t go,” protested Maite. “We have to get that zatia.” “And we will,” replied Latxe. “This will just […]

Fighting Basques: Alberto Arregui: From Chile to Normandy through Paris to the Heart of the Third Reich

This article originally appeared in Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on May 27, 2022. As the Basque-Chilean musician Alberto Arregui contemplated the Statue of Liberty as he entered the Port of New York, the words of Carl Vincent Krogmann, the mayor of the German city of Hamburg, echoed in his head, “Why did you not join us […]