What’s In A Wall?
In a philosophical dialogue that describes our reality as something that goes on inside a cave, Plato suggested our perception is as limited as that of prisoners in chains, staring…
Tanya Huntington
That Mexican Thing
What does Mexico mean to the average US citizen? Jumping beans? Speedy González? The lovely señorita from the Corona beer tray, perhaps? Does it conjure up the image of the…
The Dark Mirror of Neoliberalism: On Dreamland by Sam Quinones
Mexico currently performs a well-leveraged role as the main supplier in the U.S. drug trade, a multi-billion-dollar business that has bypassed the world’s longest political land border (and one of…
On turbulence and possibility: A view from the Acropolis
“Things are difficult,” is the phrase one hears most often in response to the usual polite queries as to how things are going in Greece. Following a decade of unrelenting…
Adam Wiseman’s Ventanas
Last week, I talked my husband Francisco into helping me lug a six-foot photograph of someone else’s living room across ten blocks of our Mexico City neighborhood. The photograph had…
RULFO = ARREOLA
Last week during a radio interview, the eminent literary critic Christopher Domínguez Michael postulated that if the present globalizing trend continues, within fifteen years or so we may not even…
MARTÍN LUIS GUZMÁN and the paradox of random violence
The general sentiment shared by most Mexican writers today is one of perplexed outrage. All too aware that criminal violence has taken on a terrible randomness and that simply choosing…
Mexico City: The End is Near
Years ago, my fiancé from Mexico accompanied me on a road trip to explore my remote origins in the heartland of the United States. As we drove along the interstate,…
Presidential Fiction
Would citizens in the United States consider casting a vote for the author of their favorite novel during next year’s presidential election? Because their neighbors in Latin America have a…
Constellations of Reading
Something mortifying has reared its ugly head on our social networks: spring cleaning. Friends of mine have actually taken to boasting about their perfectly groomed bookshelves online. “It’s only been…
An Author’s Rights.
"You are the books you have read, the paintings you have seen, the music heard and then forgotten, the streets explored. You are your childhood, your family, selected friends, a…
A Yanqui in Havana
When I learned the US was relaxing travel restrictions to Cuba, I couldn’t help but recall one of many jokes that were making the rounds on the island when I…