When a Travel Writer Broaches a Controversial Subject (Like — Barcelona?
I enjoy reporting on complex cultural issues that travelers find challenging and give meaning to their trip. When I get into complex waters, I’ve discovered that I’m often appreciated by some readers while being despised by others for the same article. My blog entries generate an exhilarating amount of back and forth — a recent article on Barcelona and Cataluña generated a lot of feedback. (I misspelled some of the proper nouns relating to the Catalonians…though there were deeper issues that mattered more to me.) Here’s some of the reader emails we received (my original article appears afterwards). The first one is from a Spaniard; the second is from a Catalonian; the rest are from all over; and the last is from Jose, my Barcelonan guide friend who was my source while I was there: * I just finished reading your article “Barcelona: Leading a Stateless Nation” in cnn.com and it is pretty obvious that you write the article with no knowledge and understanding of the politics of the area
