• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Minhas Crônicas do Brasil

Stories Inspired by Life in Rural Brazil

Header Right

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • My Crônicas
    • Comedic
    • Socio-Political
    • Journalistic
    • Philosophy
    • Nostalgia
    • Poetry
  • What is a Crônica?
  • About
  • Blog
  • My Crônicas
    • Comedic
    • Socio-Political
    • Journalistic
    • Philosophy
    • Nostalgia
    • Poetry
  • What is a Crônica?
  • About
  • Blog

Socio-Political

Commentary on political happenings and social conditions

You are here: Home / Archives for My Crônicas / Socio-Political

Fotocrônica: Do as I Say, Not as I Do….

A while back I described the plight of our local taxi drivers.  A quick recap: there´s a government crackdown to stop their underground business, initiated by the neighboring city´s mayor and enforced by the police.   It hasn´t really stopped the taxi drivers in any way, and the taxi runs continue. Last week we were on …

Fotocrônica: Do as I Say, Not as I Do….Read More

Category: Journalistic, Socio-PoliticalTag: culture, Fotocrônica, politics, traffic

Bureaucrazy and Bank Accounts – Part 2

(This story is a continuation of a bureaucratic miracle whose history started months ago.  Part 1 started last week.) As instructed, I called the Federal Police back in April.  My vacation-loving contact told me that my paperwork had been submitted to an office in Belo Horizonte with so many initials in its acronym that he …

Bureaucrazy and Bank Accounts – Part 2Read More

Category: Comedic, Journalistic, Socio-PoliticalTag: Banco do Brasil, bureauCRAZY, culture-shock, Ex-Pat, lessons-learned

Bureaucrazy and Bank Accounts

Today a miracle happened. A miracle of monumental proportions, the kind you write home to mom about, the kind that changes lives. To understand the miracle this story has to go back a ways. But don’t all the best stories? We were married in March of last year. At my Federal Police residency interview a kind …

Bureaucrazy and Bank AccountsRead More

Category: Comedic, Journalistic, Socio-PoliticalTag: bureauCRAZY, culture-shock, Ex-Pat, lessons-learned

Fotocrônica: Lost in Translation

My husband once quipped that he’s yet to see a t-shirt in Brazil that has decorative words in Portuguese on it. Everything is in English. Y’know what? I spend a lot of time people-watching as I work the market every Saturday and he’s right. There’s church t-shirts and marketing for local businesses–those are all in Portuguese–but …

Fotocrônica: Lost in TranslationRead More

Category: Comedic, Socio-PoliticalTag: culture, culture-shock, Fotocrônica, portuguese translations

4 Lessons from Tuning into the Other Side of the World

We are without satellite TV. This is a big deal because in this small town there’s really there’s not much else to do most nights. We used to have a pirated satellite box which decoded over 100 channels for us. When we got it the guy explained that some day, he couldn’t predict when, the …

4 Lessons from Tuning into the Other Side of the WorldRead More

Category: Comedic, Nostalgia, Socio-PoliticalTag: culture, first-world problem, rural life, Television

Growing Pains

Honestly I wasn’t planning on writing anything about the protests going on all over Brazil. To those of you who know me personally, I’m sure that strikes you as a little strange. Here’s the thing: despite my fierce love of grassroots organizing, I wasn’t sure that I had anything meaningful to add to the conversation. …

Growing PainsRead More

Category: Journalistic, Socio-PoliticalTag: Brazil, politics, protests, world cup

Fotocrônica: Oh the Shame

Lots of larger Brazilian supermarkets have started the policy of not providing plastic shopping bags. The customer is expected to bring their own reusable bag. The populace is still adjusting, especially since it varies from store to store. I occasionally shop at a large supermarket in larger Theófilo Otoni to buy the items we crave …

Fotocrônica: Oh the ShameRead More

Category: Comedic, Journalistic, Socio-PoliticalTag: Araújo, culture, culture-shock, Fotocrônica, plastic bags, recycling

Stone Lottery

Everyone here plays the lottery. Of course there’s the national lottery, a megalotto-type, draw a bunch of numbers and win. Everyone in Brazil plays that. But here in Minas Gerais, almost every family also plays a second lottery. You drive down the highway and little human-size gopher holes decorate the mountain walls. Everyone’s digging in …

Stone LotteryRead More

Category: Journalistic, Socio-PoliticalTag: mining, precious stone, rural life

How Many Ways to Say I Love You

The meat was sizzling on the grill. The men huddled round puffing at the flames and performing arcane rituals to minimize the smoke and maximize the heat. The women were in our kitchen pulling together some side dishes. Carrots were being grated. Collard greens were being chopped. Community news (i.e., gossip) was being shared. I …

How Many Ways to Say I Love YouRead More

Category: Nostalgia, Philosophy, Socio-PoliticalTag: culture, culture-shock, family, food, Love

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Recent Posts

Brazilians are savage AF (no, not that kind of savage)

Brazilians are savage AF (no, not that kind of savage)

How to stumble your way through the humble and humiliating

How to stumble your way through the humble and humiliating
yellow and green gasoline pumps

How long could you go without gasoline?

How long could you go without gasoline?
  • About
  • Contact
  • All Rights Reserved
  • Privacy Policy

Site Footer

Come follow the adventures!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Minhas Crônicas do Brasil · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme