My article today on IgnitumToday...

How to Love a Mass Murderer

Julie Rodrigues | Tuesday, August 21, 2012 AD | Reply

 

There were a few words, often repeated in the news coverage of the recent Colorado shooting by James Holmes, which stood out to me like red signal lights: “loner who said little and was easily forgotten”, “kept to himself” and “didn’t seem to have many friends.”

Now, I’m not a psychoanalyst or a criminal psychologist, but I did study what in the Middle Ages was called “the queen of all sciences”: theology.




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Growing up and flowers of São Jorge (pt 4 and final)

Taking pictures at the same place as when I was one... 

Daniel went back to Lisbon last Friday (sniff, sniff), but I'm in the Azores, on the island Terceira where my parents live, until the end of the month. Visiting S. Jorge was really special and it really is the most beautiful island in my opinion. There are wild sunflowers everywhere... I love sunflowers. And hydrangeas too. They use hydrangeas to divide the pastures. Then there are all sorts of different, colorful flowers.

Coffee beans (São Jorge pt 3)

Another place we visited on the island of São Jorge was a café where they grow their own coffee in "Fajã dos Vimes". The owner, who was serving the coffee, was nice enough to show us his backyard where he grows the coffee. We were surprised to find out coffee grows on... TREES! Funny how I am so out of touch with something I drink so often. I was glad to see a family that is doing good things to promote home-grown and local. Mr. Nunes was in the café, Mrs. Nunes embroiders bedspreads and such with her sister and their daughter is trying to buy a house to start rural tourism. Yay for S. Jorge!

There were signed dollar bills on the walls of the café. At least two were from Turlock!

The coffee tree has white flowers...

The coffee bean first grows green, then turns red and finally brown...

They also embroider the old-fashioned way, and with 100-year-old patterns! But adapted to modern times because they use cotton instead of wool (it's easier to wash and maintain).

Fish and cows (S. Jorge pt. 2)

Two of the most fun things Daniel and I did on São Jorge Island were fishing and watching my cousins milk their cows. I happen to have an awesome uncle who goes fishing almost every night apparently the island has abundant fish. We caught lots of chicharros (horse mackerel) and one garoupa (blacktail comber). It was the first time Daniel and I had gone fishing, but it was pretty cool.

Jumping fish in the bucket (poor things, took forever to die!)...
Success! And the cat doesn't care.

Other than having a really cool uncle, I have three really cool cousins who milk cows. We went to see how two of them do it. In the Azores there really are happy cows. And these two cousins of mine really take care of their cows as if they were pets. They know all 55 by name, and choose to milk them out in the pasture, where they have to bend over, instead of in a milking house, just because it's better for the cows.

The cows love it. They are fed while they are milked so they line up (they know their order) and even push other cows out of the way, trying to go for a second time.

I had no idea cows can be like dogs if treated with care... friendly and wanting to be petted. I petted one named "Frou Frou" and she came back next to me a few minutes later to be petted again. She wanted to be petted by everyone and she even leaned her head against Daniel and licked us! It was incredible.

S. Jorge pt 1

I got back last night (to my parents' house in the Azores) from the beautiful island of S. (Saint) Jorge. It was really a dream week: my boyfriend Daniel visited the island for the first time, with my parents and I, and he got to meet my whole family and we spent lots of quality time also with my parents. In my opinion, and in my parents' opinion also, S. Jorge is the most beautiful island in the Azores.

We went and returned by boat, six hours :/...

The island is named after the tale of Saint Jorge, who kills a dragon. Perhaps because the island is shaped as a sword.

The island is incredibly high and there are villages on some of the flaps of land along the coast, called "fajãs". People also live on the top of the island, of course.

A place we went swimming...

The water is transparent and really warm...

A baby cagarro, the most populous sea bird here in the Azores...