I'm not talking about onanism, but rather the idea that to protect women from sexual harassment and assault, we should just keep the sexes separate. Last week an article about a new single-sex bus service offered in Mexico City caught my attention.

Ever wonder how different your life is from that of a woman half a world away, or how similar? The UNFPA has created a new web tool, called Lifelines, to give us a bit of insight into our common, and very different, milestones. Am

Supersize Squash, from Peru

Gretchen Noelle from the Peruvian food blog Canela y Comino has a passion for introducing the world to Peruvian food. In a recent post, she writes about the extra-large zapallo macre, (zuh-pie-o mack-ray), what looks from here to be a thick-skinned winter squash.

Patricia from the Brazilian food blog Technicolor Kitchen was looking for a salad recipe and whoops! ended up in 'sweets'. She writes: "The cocadas were simply wonderful! I had only one – the horror, the horror – but João ate several." ~

What are cocadas?

Congratulations, President-Elect Fernández de Kirchner! Last night Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, of the Justicialist party, was elected president of Argentina. Fernández de Kirchner, a laywer, politician, and Peronist for the last 30 years, and served two terms in the Senate. Her politics are left-leaning and her campaign strongly emphasized social justice and human rights.


In her opening speech as president-elect, she declared her alliance with the more left-leaning Peronists, and also mentioned gender issues. To wild applause from women in the audience in this video, she speaks of her double responsiblity, not just as a member of a political forum, that conducts the business of a nation, but also she bears the immense responsibility for, or because of, her gender. She speaks to women to use their abilities from bridging the private and public sphere, and their responsibility to pull together the country's differences.

Tengo el honor más grande que se le puede conferir a un argentino, pero también quiero decirles que me siento con una doble responsabilidad también por el género. Permítanme dirigirme a mis hermanas de género para convocarlas a todas: sé que podemos desarrollar una gran tarea porque tenemos aptitudes especiales.
I have the greatest honor that can be conferred on an argentine, but also I want to say that I feel with double responsibility also because of my gender. I'd like to say to my sisters to summon us all, I know that we can build a great work, because we have special ability.

Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, will be celebrated in Mexico, throughout southwestern US, and in many other Latin countries this week.