Last month, after I finished my Ph.D., instead of pushing further on my research, or trying to get a job in Academia, I set myself into learning how to draw. I bought Szunyoghy’s Lessons on drawing, some pencils (2B, 4B, and HB), a ruler. I dusted my pencil bag, got…

Prefeitos eleitos, vamos pensar em 2022 — Há anos o Brasil vive, não diferente de muitos outros países, em permanente estado de ânsia eleitoral. Como campeonatos esportivos, a política se tornou uma eterna busca de títulos: tão logo acaba uma disputa, começam os preparativos para um novo certame. Esse ano não é diferente. Acabada a eleição municipal…

Will America watch his tv sequel? — “The girl next door” is a 2004 movie about a high school overachiever student who got in trouble in his senior year. Everything was going according to plan. He was accepted to a good university; he was about to host a foreign genius whose opportunity in America was financed by…

Republicans have much to gain on the popular vote — The world watched the American elections in disbelief. How could such an important event be decided by a few thousand votes? It is weird for anyone outside the United States to understand how one can both argue in favor of democracy and hold the fate of the nation in something…

A change in Brazilian diplomacy sets Amazon on fire — Once upon a time, there was a country south of the Equator named Brazil. It was a large country, almost the size of the United States. It was a country of diverse fauna and flora, with many colors in many ecosystems. There was a prairie, there were pine woods, there…

Troubling neighborhood — Russia is facing a much-troubled backyard. A complex set of conflicts and political conundrums (Ukraine, Lybia, Syria) is followed by new outbreaks. Belarus is in revolt, Kyrgyzstan just ousted its government in a popular uprising, Armenia and Azerbaijan fight each other. …

How to resume traveling in a pos-pandemic world — My wife and I live in France. In January, after we were back from the holidays, France had its first COVID-19 case. As the disease moved around Europe (it made a wreck in Italy and Spain before hitting France hard) and later to the United States and Brazil and all…

Dangerous conflicts around the globe — It has been hard to keep tabs on the things happening in the world. After all, there are too many things in America’s national sphere: elections, a s*** debate, a president that cheers for right-wing terrorists, police brutality, a Supreme Court scheme, the NBA finals… And there’s Covid-19. Nevertheless, the…

Can you tell what is setting us apart? — One million deaths and counting. Although the ‘counting part’ is not straight forward, it is more likely there are even more COVID-19 deaths related by now than official numbers reveal, it is undisputed that the Covid-19 pandemic is a major tragedy. America’s numbers are dismal, Europe is facing a second…