Post Archive


Here you can find every post from Jack's Journal, even the ones I've hidden! 

From watching trailblazing novillera Olga Casado to reconnecting with Borja Jiménez, Jack's week in Spain blended bullfights, Sevilla, and quiet work time.

From Santiago’s crowded cathedral to running with the bulls near Madrid, this week brought disappointment, adrenaline, and a longing for Sevilla.

Jack experiences Spain’s encierros beyond Pamplona, where tradition, danger, and camaraderie meet. This time, he's in San Sebastián de los Reyes.

Jack reflects on three goals, bullfighting, religion, and writing, set before a round-the-world trip and revisited after two years on the road.

What a year this week has been! As always, the fiesta has yet to disappoint!

I still prefer the classic corrida, but after last night, I won't summarily write off the rejoneo like I have in the past.

What a few weeks it has been back in Texas.   To be honest, there's not much of an excuse not to have written a dispatch since the end of...

Not many Spaniards in the rural towns speak English, there are rarely special, fast-to-produce fair menus at cafes, and the local attractions—like castles, churches, and museums—stay open during the fiestas. You can run an encierro in the morning, visit a castle before lunch, join a wheel dance in the afternoon, and end the night with dinner among locals instead of raucous partygoers. You don't get that at the big fairs.

An advance chapter from Jack's next book, "Aficionado: Discovering Spain Through the Art of Bullfighting." He discusses Pamplona's history, traditions, and the San Fermin Festival

There is more to the religious angle than simply commitment to God in the face of an uncertain end of the night. There are lessons to draw from the corrida as an allegory for Christian life, from the written law to our behaviour in the face of social change.

It is my morning ritual during the fiesta: awake early, drink a double espresso around the corner from the hostel, and read the morning paper. I'm specifically reading the section related to the bulls and bullfights for the day. The Diario de Navarra publishes the pictures, ranches, and weights of the six bulls that will run through the streets in less than two hours.

Watching the spectacle before me, I realised it was the first time I had seen something die before me in person. This wasn't a movie, video game, or a thought experiment. Death was real in the ring.

In running, I lived life not just to the fullest but to its potential end, less than a macabre call for help than living life all out, or at least as much as I could without staring a bull down in the bullring later that evening.