Some of my best friends are Latvian

01 Apr 2008

Democrats to decide presidential candidate at Gaŗezers

April! April! Hats off to cikaga.com, the Web site for Chicago-area Latvians, for breaking the story that the Democratic…

24 Feb 2008

As far as we know, Rīga is still in the running

Aw, no fair! The organizers of the online contest to choose city names that should appear in a special…

11 Nov 2007

Russia and the Baltics

One of America’s leading newspapers, The New York Times, is paying attention to the growing concerns a resurgent Russia poses…

31 Oct 2007

No way to raise a child

Here’s a new angle on the story about challenges faced by Western-born Latvians returning to their ancestral homeland: the locals…

03 Jul 2007

Order an iPhone, support a Latvian hacker

Looking for an iPhone, the hot new technological gadget from Apple? Then don’t click on the pop-up ad that appears…

08 Oct 2006

Picturing life in Ireland

The Latvach Sochaí Éireannach, otherwise known as the Latvian Society in Ireland, otherwise known as Latviešu Biedrība Īrijā, recently sponsored…

24 Sep 2006

A Michigan love story

Latvian-American man goes to Latvia, meets Latvian woman, she comes to visit him in America, then they get married. Simple,…

31 Aug 2006

It’s about time, Warren

Warren Buffett, the American billionaire who recently freed himself of some of his worldly goods in a well-publicized donation to…

07 Aug 2006

Translating the Koran

If reading the Koran is not on your list of things to do, then here’s a reason you might want…

06 Aug 2006

Top of the pops, Latvian style

Do you know the words and melodies to “Pūt, vējiņi!” or “Seši mazi bundzenieki”? Do you think everyone should? If…

24 Jul 2006

The end of days

Sure it’s summer in the northern hemisphere. And even though Jāņi was celebrated a month ago, we still can enjoy…

23 Jul 2006

Latvia’s place in the Universe

Sanita Kubliņa of Latvia, whose idol is President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, didn’t make the cut in this year’s Miss Universe competition.…

22 Jun 2006

Kentuckians for VVF

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has not said she is interested in the job of general secretary of the United Nations. Her name…

21 Jun 2006

Strongmen in Rīga

It was 1:30 in the morning and, for some reason, we could not sleep. So we turned on the television…

16 Apr 2006

Murphy’s Law: A case study

Murphy’s Law (in Latvian, Merfija likums) states that if anything can go wrong, it will. A case in point is…

23 Mar 2006

The Balkans

Latvia should just quit the Baltic family and move in with the Balkans down south. Some folks already think the…

26 Feb 2006

Fly guys from Latvia

Those aerial acrobats you saw during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy? They were all…

24 Feb 2006

Hockey is their life

So what if the Latvian ice hockey team crashed and burned during the Winter Olympics? The fans love the team…

05 Feb 2006

Celebrity updates

The SuperBowl football championship saw plenty of attention in the days before the Feb. 5 contest in Detroit, Mich., between…