The Brazilian Economic Crisis at Ground Level

What passes for dog-bites-man in Brazil in 2016

Half my city is underwater. Here’s what’s on my mind:

I live in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil…

Five Words to Expand Your Brazilian Portuguese Vocabulary

I have a book coming out today, a phrasebook for people who want to learn Brazilian Portuguese. It’s called Português na Prática para Falantes de Inglês. However, I couldn’t find room for a few advanced words that cantruly help…

Highlights from a Fender Bender

What happens when you’re involved in a minor traffic accident in…

Brazil’s Anti-Technology Minister of Technology

Brazil has 39 cabinet-level positions — at least for now — and president Rousseff has been picking a new cabinet for her second term. Among the luminaries chosen for this group, as star-studded as a direct-to-DVD sequel to a Lifetime Movie of the…

Too many C-sections? There oughtta be a law.

Congressman Jean Wyllys rode his fame as a reality show…

There, I fixed it

How a plastic patch fixed with tape is enough to get you an illegal parking ticket.

How do you say “Custo Brasil” in Japanese?

For a few years now, there’s been a lot of talk in the country about what we call the “Brazil cost”, or the cost of doing business in a…

Just another day in the Brazilian crisis

How the perennial “country of the future” deals with an economic and political crisis.

Even if you don’t really care about what goes on in Brazil or South America, you‘ve…