Viajar es casi como hablar con aquellos de otros siglos. René Descartes (1596-1650) La declaración del filósofo y matemático francés, puede proveer alguna respuesta de por qué algunos de nosotros somos inquietos viajeros. Cuando nos trasladamos a una ciudad o a un país nuevo, posiblmente seguimos en contacto con los paisajes que formaron nuestra niñez….
Emancipation proclamation
Children are all foreigners. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) If each member of the human race was once a foreigner as the 19th century writer and poet suggests, why isn’t it possible to make the switch from foreigner to native when we’re adults? Possibly the root of the problem lies in two culprit words: native and…
The world is a basketball court
With the world in dire need of a tourniquet to halt the hemorrhaging caused by George W. Bush’s so-called “war on terror” and our insatiable greed that is bringing climate change on us hard and fast, one question we can ask is what can be done? To simplify things, the world could be…
Writing and not writing
One area where migrants are at a clear disadvantage is in speaking and writing the language of the host country. While speaking and writing a language properly is desired because communication works, language can be used to disenfranchise ethnic groups from participating in society. In light of these challenges, I’ve made up the following quote:…
A migrant question
Why is “being” from somewhere so important? Do you think we can be from many places and countries simultaneously?
Journey to northern Canada
A Journey Long Time Ago To Aino Ida Kaakinen* Some journeys can take years, even a lifetime to complete. I was about fourteen years old when I got a National Geographic atlas for Christmas. The atlas had lots of detailed maps of countries but one of these caught my attention. I was amazed by the…
Life in Colombia
Life on the front Enrique Tessieri I still have vivid memories of Colombia, even if I moved over six years ago back to Europe from the world’s most violent country. The Finnish community in Colombia was made up of about 35 souls. When my wife, three children and I moved to the capital Bogotá, the…
Who is Migrant tales?
Migrant Tales is a blog that debates some of the salient issues facing the immigrant and minority community in Finland. It aims to be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media and politicians.