It’s snowing chocolate in Switzerland, an Australian punches a shark and The ABC Travel Greenbook by Martinique Lewis tells us where to find Black-owned businesses all over the world.
First Stop:
Residents of Olten, Switzerland stepped outside one morning to discover cocoa powder falling from the sky. The AP report states that high winds and a ventilation problem at the Lindt chocolate factory caused the finely ground cocoa nibs to fall from the sky.
And since Joe asked, I thought you should know that the word "nib" means a lot of things -- including frat brothers, annoyingly self-important people (which may or may refer to the same dude), the tip of a pen and a programming variable -- but none of the definitions are derogatory. (At least not according to Urban Dictionary.)
Next Stop:
Joe interviewed Martinique Lewis, author of the The ABC Travel Green Book. Its name references the travel guide written and published by Victor Hugo Green that enabled Black Americans to determine which businesses and regions were safe during the Jim Crow area. (The books were published in the 1930s-1960s -- this is recent, folks.)
Martinique is a leader in the Black travel movement and this ambitious volume (the first of many) highlights Black-owned businesses across the world. She started by giving us a little history about how travel guides for Black travelers have changed in the decades since Jim Crow and what it was like to research this volume.
What about you?
Which Black-owned businesses do you love?
Which types of businesses do you really need when you travel?
If supporting Black-owned businesses when you travel is important to you, check out this episode featuring Femi Oyewole of Black Brown Berlin (which is also featured in Martinique's book). Chelsea Murphy's Hiking While Black episode addresses the importance of representation in the world of outdoor recreation.
Postcard:
Surfer Mark Rapley was surfing north of Sydney with his wife, Chantelle Doyle, when a Great White Shark attacked her.
According to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr. Rapley hopped off his surfboard and came to his wife's aid, punching the aforementioned shark in the head over and over until it gave up.
How tough do you have to be to beat up a shark?! Respect, sir.
A note from us:
We're taking a brief break for the rest of September to catch up on our writing projects, including promoting a new road trip book (Alicia) and writing about the Jewish community in Germany (Joe.) We'll be back with new episodes in October.