Dean Bedekar joined the NOSHA board of directors and soon took on the position of treasurer. His education and work background were more than adequate for our not-too-complicated financial affairs. His business savvy soon became apparent when he suggested that from time to time we should organize fundraising campaigns to give us the wherewithal to attract well-known speakers, along with buying advertising, which in turn would increase interest in our programs, attract more members, and perpetuate and grow the organization….

Hugo Dart, NOSHA’s longtime friend in Rio de Janeiro, has just published the book Making Connections: A Practical Guide to Online Intercultural Exchanges, based on an ongoing project he coordinates. Here’s a short description: Online collaboration can be a powerful means of encouraging language learners to make connections between their local community and people from other cultural backgrounds. In doing so, learners develop their language skills while exploring different attitudes, values and beliefs. The authors of this book draw on…

We have a new dispatch from NOSHA friend, Bob Patience, who resides in Mexico. He offers a highlight of what he thinks are important changes to Mexico’s society.   A liberal, progressive Mexico may be counterintuitive. Crime and corruption get the headlines and there is homophobia and misogyny in rural areas. However, Mexico is more progressive than I ever realized. I live in a city of 5.4 million people, Guadalajara. It is a prosperous, modern and progressive city with deep…

Bob Patience reports on the history of Mexico that has been steeped in the Catholic Church, but that is changing!   I was a member of NOSHA when I lived in New Orleans and I have followed NOSHA since I moved to Mexico, seven years ago. I’m particularly interested in the program about aging (September 2023). I was 75 years old when I bought a one-way ticket to Mexico. I didn’t know anybody in Mexico and I didn’t speak Spanish….

Review by Dean Bedekar, September 2023   This is a unique book.  It will turn upside down everything you learned in your high school history class.  It’s about people who are never mentioned in traditional history books – workers, women, Blacks, Native Americans, immigrants, LGBTQ, the lower classes and residents of third-world nations.  By 2015, the book sold over 2 million copies and was translated into 20 languages.  In the Oscar-winning movie Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon says the book…

This week, NOSHA received a media inquiry from Louisiana Record, which describes itself as a legal journal covering Louisiana’s legal system. Its goal is to provide an objective view of the legal landscape in Louisiana, as well as an active forum for both sides of the argument. They asked if we see House Bill 8 as problematic or as an illegal injection of religion into the state’s classrooms, since the law requires all classrooms in public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools post signage…