Bordeaux

Many times we feel that wine tasting involves long trips to places like Santa Ynez, Paso Robles or Napa and often fail to look in our own backyards. Four Brix is one of those local diamonds in the rough being a part of the Ventura Wine Trail that I have shamefully failed to visit in a long time. Gary and Karen Stewart have been long time friends and supporters of Grape of the Night (GOTN). My last visit to Four Brix was in 2013 with the GOTN group where Gary not only tasted us on their fine…

The word “pandemic” can be defined as a disease that takes over a whole country or even the world. The Black Death was exactly that, one of the most shocking and serious pandemics that took over Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, reached Europe in the late 1340s and killed around 25 million people there; altogether, it eventually killed an estimated 75 million people worldwide. The Black Death originated in China in the 1330s. China was a very…

The Truth Behind Sugar The American population is fatter than ever before. When compared to the seventies, the obesity rates of today have increased almost 20%. So, why are more people obese today? The answer lies within the food Americans are consuming everyday. As a result of food industries replacing fat for sugar, the human body has started to store fat more easily and increased the United States’ obesity rates. When taking a look back into history, the low-to-no-fat movement ironically can…

There are not many games that involve racism or are set in the sixties. Mafia 3 begins in 1968 in New Bordeaux, which is a made up cite eerily similar to New Orleans. The story revolves Lincoln Clay a biracial Vietnam vet who is the main protagonist in the game. After returning from war, he becomes involved in the Black Mob, an African American criminal gang…

The dictionary defines a rogue as “a dishonest or unprincipled man,” (dictionary) and a hero as “a person noted for courageous acts of nobility or character.” (dictionary) The name Jean Lafitte is associated with both of these epithets and stirs a mixture of emotions and reactions in many people. Some describe Lafitte as “The Terror of The Gulf,” while others construe him as “The Hero of New Orleans.” To most, he was known as one of the last pirates of the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout his life,…

revolution could be eliminated. Another threat to the power of the National Convention was the counter-revolutionary uprisings occurring within France itself. The uprisings that predominantly cultivated in the provinces of La Vendee and in the cities of Bordeaux and Lyons were ongoing and never-ceasing (French Revolution, pg. 76). It was both crucial and vital to sustain internal political order in France for the National Convention to be…

French Revolution Feminism Despite the various events that happened during the French Revolution, such as the fall of Bastille, March on Versailles, and the Reign of Terror, women still prevailed and fought for their rights in a sexist and misogynist world. On October 4, 1789, a crowd of women marched towards Versailles demanding bread for their families. Fewer than two years later, in 1791, Marie Gouze, or better known as Olympes de Gouges, proposed a reform platform to the French National…

The French Revolution, which is often described as the beginning of Modern Europe, represents the beginning of the 19th century. The political change brought by the Revolution was so immense that it caused other European powers to intervene to prevent its ideas from entering the conscious of their subjects. Ideals outlined by the Declarations of the Right of Man such as “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights” and “As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared…

The solution is to cut the number of nuclear warheads the United States have in their arsenal. To reduce the number of nukes an effective way would be to close down nuclear silos, which are mostly located in the mid-west of the United States. Many people argue that disposing of nuclear weapons isn’t cost affected and is to expensive. These counterpoints led to the discussion of disarming the plutonium Pu-239 and uranium U-235 cores that set the explosion in the bombs. James Conca from Forbes…

World War II was a dark, terrible time in history. It was a time when maniacal, fascist dictators terrorized the masses, and showed signs of growing more powerful by the second. It was a time when citizens lived in fear of armies looting and burning their cities, and sought protection from bombs dropping mercilessly from the sky. It was a time when corruption ran deep into the government, and every official had suspicions about the others leaking information to the enemy. People were afraid,…