OF A GOLDEN AGE

Nauru, my favorite tiny island nation, is long plagued by insane international corruption and has a terrible economy.

Recently I read a WSJ book review on somewhat obscure place-name changes which included a Nauru shoutout:

Take, for example, Pleasant Island, the South Pacific atoll that now calls itself the Republic of Nauru. It was once richly valued (and plundered) for its ­deposits of “super-phosphate,” a mixture of chemicals used in artificial fertilizers. [ . . . ] It has since tried to set itself up as a tax haven, started a smuggling operation for North Korean defectors, and even—you can’t make this up—invested its tax dollars in musical theater, all to no avail.

Yeah, to keep referring to it as Pleasant Island once it became a burned-out strip-mined shell would be, well, disingenuous. See also: The great Greenland/Iceland hoodwink.

In other island topics, this weekend I learned about Yerba Buena Island, a residential spot in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Yerba buena means “good herb,” similar to yerba mate, a popular variety of tea.

The island is accessible by bridge, which reminded me of Pigeon Key, a nature preserve-ish educational center off of the now-shut-down A1A Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys. The new Seven Mile Bridge runs alongside the old, and in places the old bridge is preserved for pedestrians and fishing. On one side it runs long enough to allow access to Pigeon Key.

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