If you want to eat meat, do you have to kill it yourself? Some people say yes. I’m less convinced and explore the reasons why in this piece for the American Interest, out today.
Author Archives: hnbjr
On the Last Rock Star
On a hot August evening, the sun was setting over Barricata beach out on the Po Delta. The beach bar was deserted and the lifeguard-cum-barman started up his tractor and began to pick up the sunbeds. To do his work he put on the sound system and turned it up, loud. Sandwiched between the usual …
Fashion Week Begins
The fashion week party, or rather, pre-party drink like one of those early punk shows I went to when I was a boy: you feel you have total freedom to do whatever because everyone is doing anything. A man is a fluorescent toga-like dress with his whole head shaved except for a little random-seeming tuft …
Why — or How — Italy Works, and Why No One Wants to Leave
The motorist tries to run you over and you get into a yelling match on the street. The phone company is billing you for your old and new internet, although neither work. You’re getting laid off, you lose your private office and have to share a cramped space with people who don’t believe in the …
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On the Artistic Theater of the Cenacolo
A trip to Lugano reminds one of what Italy is missing, and what would make it better — courteous drivers, spotlessly clean streets, apartments and offices free of the suspicious layers of security ones finds in Italy. But in contrast, a trip to the Cenacolo, aside from being a moving experience in itself that should …
Amazon.it Brought to Heel by Levi Law
While trying to research publication information on the Italian guidebook that profiled my home state, a visit to Amazon.it, which just opened this year, revealed the following warning: Dear Customer, It now seems certain that by September 1, a law on the price of books in Italian will come into effect. The main article states: …
il Kentucky
We’re often curious as to how others see us. To that end, today’s offering is composed of translations from an Italian guidebook to the USA on my home state and city. Factually, it’s largely accurate, with a couple of exceptions (the Louisville Falls Fountain was scrapped 13 years ago), but the amusement for Louisvillians and …
Evergreen
Note, September 26, 2025: Thanks to industrious Louisville underground archivists, we’ve got what is likely one of the first Britt shows on the YouTubes. A good amount of jams, some of Sean playing guitar, and three songs which were later recorded — Plastic Bag, Remembering the Queen and Beat. A rowdy summer party on the …
Raiding the Ratings Agencies
The financial news has been so intense this week that I’ve all but given up on trying to blog it. Twitter‘s where you’ll find most of my comments on the tumult in Europe and the US. Amid markets falling and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic flailing, one bit of rather shocking news did …
Provoking the Unprovocative: Reactions to Norway
As Italy goes into total shutdown for August, I have so much work at the day job that it’s literally made me sick for the past three weeks, but spending more than four hours on the phone with lawyers every day should do that to anyone. Ironically, I have been working on a series of …
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