We Speak and Write This Language against Our Will

The Salonika-born Ladino journalist Moise B. Soulam settled in New York City in 1913. He was best known for an advice column he wrote, using the feminine pseudonym Tia Satula or Bula Satula, from 1913 to 1934. Sometimes entitled “Palavras de mujer” (Words of a Woman) and sometimes “Postemas de mujer” (Pet Peeves of a Woman), the column appeared intermittently in the Ladino newspapers La Amérika, El Progresso, and La Vara. Written in a popular style, the columns urged female readers to lead respectable, upright lives and to adopt American habits and customs.