Owlspotting

Today, in our quest for cultural enlighment, we shall compare a Romanian Zoo with an American Zoo. The Romanian Zoo was photographed on a gloomy December day in 2004 in Targu-Mures, a town so incredible I accepted to be born in it. The American Zoo was photographed on a gorgeous April day in 2006 in […]

Ameroman. That’s what I am. Romerican and I brainstormed my status and he came up with “Ameroman.” Perfect blend to describe a Romanian in America with a twist. The twist is the key to joining the two identities — it’s trying to be a little bit of both and at times — at least in […]

Browsing the Web this morning I came across an intriguing little story in the Chicago Sun-Times about a Romanian man who was sent home to Romania after immigration officials found him living in the O’Hare airport. The story is fascinating to me as a journalist and I wish it told a more complete story of […]

NOTE: Although this post is in Romanian, it refers to an article I wrote in English about the Romanian blog world. Read it here. La inceputul lui februarie anuntam ca scriu un articol despre ce va insemna 2006 pentru bloguri in Romania. Predat cateva saptamani mai tarziu, articolul a aparut astazi in revista de limba […]

Kevin Sullivan of the Washington Post returned to Romania for a second story in one month. His first, about the American air force base built in my homeland, was enjoyable if only because it carefully dealt with a cultural cliche: the endless wait for the Americans. His second fails because Sullivan embarks on a journey […]

I can’t believe I missed this piece of news in my usual activity of finding what foreign outlets have to say about Romania. But an item on my favorite geek show, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (the NPR news quiz) clued me in on the story of a Romanian soccer player traded for… meat! Below […]

I like to think that if you look close enough, you’ll find almost anything on Craigslist, the online classifieds giant. Today, I decided to look the site around and find out what Romanians are up to in cities across the United State. Many of them are looking for things — mostly jobs and soul mates. […]

Deocamdata, domeniul dbrom.ro e inaccesibil. Speram sa-l reabilitam in curand. “am vrut odata sa scriu o povestire care sa se numeasca ‘omul care s-a insurat cu cainele lui’. era cu siguranta influenta lui marquez in acest titlu. aveam doar tilul si imaginea unui om trecut de 45 de ani pe plaja de la 2 mai. […]

I was doing my normal morning rounds of the media blogs and came across a Media Shift reference to a blog that tracks last place finishes in the Torino Olympics. Funny, I said, until I started reading this blog more closely. It turns out that next to documenting the pains of athletes coming in last, […]

Razvan Amariei, a correspondent for Transitions Online in Romania, offers a wonderful and blunt portrait of the Romanian reaction to the news that the American soldier who killed a Romanian singer will go unpunished. The story, “Friendship and Immunity” tackles the fine line the US must walk when dealing with an ally in times of […]