“When she asks me to removemy spectacles, I am wary, feelas if she is asking me to reveala wound. The lensesa closed window betweenwhat I have seen…” —from “Portrait of José Clemente Orozco, Doris Ulmann, New York City, 1929” which appears in the Fall 2016 issue out now! (Volume 57, Issue 3). Tell . . .
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Direct Action Oceti Sakowin is also a training camp. We attended a several hours long direct action training our first day in camp, mandatory for anyone who wishes to participate in direct action. One of its clear goals is to train others in effective nonviolent direct action, in its principles of unity . . .
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If I had to be as simple as possible, I would say these two things: 1. The simplest reason to support the Lakȟóta People, the Sioux, in their struggle at Standing Rock was, is, because they asked for support. It’s the reason to keep actively supporting them now, even after Sunday’s decision . . .
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A review of House A., by Jennifer S. Cheng (Omnidawn Publishing, 2016) Longing for home recurs as a theme in Asian American literature. Works by both immigrant and US-born writers, especially older ones, often focus on links to a distant Asian homeland or the desire to feel at home in America. Separation from . . .
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New York, Chinatown, early 1900s. (Photo: Byron Company, Library of Congress) AFTER THE US ELECTIONS and the resounding victory of Donald Trump, the word “fascism” has been trotted out widely in public discussions. Even during his campaign the new President-elect was associated from time to time with the figures of both Benito Mussolini . . .
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The exercise of power and the capacity for its abuse takes many forms. It is not confined to Donald Trump. In the current moment, it is frighteningly evident that individuals poised to hold positions of power within our government will likely exercise that power abusively. But, in our grief over the election . . .
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Across our Facebook newsfeeds, we Balkanites like to accuse each other of a particular form of navel-gazing that verges on conspiracy theory. We often fall prey to seeing our relatively unimportant little region, down at the unfashionable end of Europe, as the belly button of the world. It’s a defence mechanism at . . .
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You may say that America, perhaps, is not mine. I have a right to be here, for now. But it’s not mine. I get to pay taxes without representation, because I am a scholar, not a citizen. Will I still be welcome here a year from now? Will I still be able to get . . .
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This post is not meant to be optimistic. It feels almost dirty to be optimistic at this moment. I came of age politically when Ronald Reagan was elected. I was depressed for weeks. And I was right to be — what he launched was thirty years of neoliberal economics and social meanness . . .
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You’ve all heard the line. “You can’t go home again,” they say. In my ear, though, just behind my left shoulder, I still hear that Gatsby whisper, Of course you can! And, no, I haven’t forgotten how the novel ends, nor am I unaware that at least one of its characters would have . . .
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