Willamette World News

We all know national icons of the United States, they even transcend time- Abe Lincoln, Bob Marley, Audrey Hepburn or Lady Gaga. But have you heard of Juanes? Or Marriane? Ever thought of the cultural icons of other countries around the world? Read about the controversial, the endearing, the political, the beautiful. Here’s your opportunity […]

If I ask who is ‘America’s sweetheart’, I know I would probably hear Marilyn Monroe, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, or even Monica Lewinsky! You have had many women under this title, over 2,000, did you know? So today, I want to introduce you to our Colombian male version, and not exactly of a sweetheart, but […]

Looking for an icon I have to say that I had trouble finding a “national icon” for France.  Looking at French history, several names come to mind: Jeanne d’Arc (but she is used in a political way by the far-right nowadays), Napoleon (but he was also a bit of a dictator), De Gaulle (but he’s […]

Everyone likes to laugh. And laughter has the power to makes others happy!  But humor has different inclinations depending on the country or even the person.  This time, I chose to write about Japanese comedians as our national icons, because a country’s comedy or sense of humor is usually not well known outside of the […]

Icons aren’t always necessarily figures to revere and imitate. Indeed, it sometimes is the opposite. In 1998, Spanish actor and film director Santiago Segura released onto Spanish screens a film that he didn’t yet know would become one of the best-selling sagas of contemporary Spanish cinema: Torrente. This masterpiece of absurd comedy —which featured a […]

Having National Icons as the topic for the 2nd issue of the WWN made me reflect about which German person I could write about. A long list of different great and influencing names popped up in my head: great figures like  the physician Albert Einstein, the philosopher Immanuel-Kant, Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche. Then I […]

Ni men hao, Guys~!!! This time I would like to show you the pride of my hometown, the daughter of Jinan: Gong Li. I am very curious about how famous she is in the world, especially in the United States, because every time people mention her they always include the title “World Famous”. There is no doubt that […]