We went to Vic to see some cows, eat some cheese, and watch an exhibition of different equine disciplines including horseball and natural horsemanship at the Mercat del Ram.

If I ever want to become a vegetarian, I’ll just tape this picture to my refrigerator.

I moved to Barcelona in 2008, so you could say that I liked Catalonia before it was cool. Here we are in 2012 on the eve of regional parliamentary elections, and all of a sudden Catalonia is the focus of some major international press coverage.

Honestly, you hold one 1.5 million man march for national independence, a center right political party’s leader puts a referendum for European statehood at the top of his agenda, and all of a sudden you’re all anyone is talking about.

Here are my picks for reasonably objective sources and coverage of Catalonia. I will update if anything else noteworthy comes along.

The Wilson Initiative
Six Catalan academics (all in some way connected to the school where I work, the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics) have come together to “to help the citizens of Catalonia have the opportunity to decide their future freely, without fear or threats, and with the best information possible.” Like Wilson (the former president, not the volleyball), they also have a 14 points.

The Guardian
This UK giant is collaborating with the Barcelona-based La Vanguardia to publish a series of pieces called “Barça-loners: will breakaway Catalonia fracture Spain?” (hashtag: #cataloniatales) In addition to an interactive history lesson, the series includes interviews with pro- and anti-independence citizens, commentary by Catalan intellectuals, and a quiz where you can try to ‘spot the Catalan’ (my score: 10 out of 10)

BBC
The BBC’s Catalonia Profile provides facts and figures, plus a timeline of Catalonia’s history back to the 9th century (just the highlights, don’t be scared).

But wait, there’s more!
There are a few blogs that share English-language news links related to Catalonia. The ones I know of are mostly pro-independence. If anyone knows of any quality anti-independence Twitter users I can include, please let me know.

• Collectiu Emma (or follow @CollectiuEmma)
• Liz Castro’s News Catalonia blog (or follow @lizcastro)
  • now with great post-election recap! (26.11.2012)

A very special opportunity to see James Taylor perform at Palau de la Música, Barcelona. May 4, 2012. Here are some photos we took from our seats…

And here is a video someone posted on YouTube (hope JT doesn’t mind). For this tour he’s only got two other musicians with him on stage, so he’s using a vintage tape recorder for the backup vocals. It’s controlled by a switch that JT operates with his foot during the song. He says it’s the same machine he used for his SNL appearance in the ’70s. Rock on, JT. Rock on.