Counting the Dead and then Making Coffee

Frontera List is not the most merry of mailing lists. It is administered by New Mexico State University reference librarian Molly Molloy, and aims to facilitate discussion around the violence in Ciudad Juarez that goes beyond the usual daily death count. Still, the...
On America Having No Culture

On America Having No Culture

Back in 2005 – when this blog was still a wee pup – I made a mistake common to young American liberals that have recently set out to explore the rest of the world: I claimed that America has no culture. I distinctly remember comments from Derek and Erick...

A Delicious Proposal For An Annotated Web

How a takeover of Delicious by Twitter could prepare the web for the 21st century. What can I say, I’m tired of big-ass internet corporations taking over my favorite internet platforms and hanging them on the clothesline only to let them die. I am equally...

Cafe Complaints and Dissident Urban Planning

I’m just back from my favorite neighborhood cafe, where poets, artists, and whining leftists all come together for that special feeling of community. All along the back wall are stacks of La Jornada and posters supporting El Peje. At the bar sipping on...
Mapping My Megacity

Mapping My Megacity

Heat map based on time travel to major cities. To this day I stare out the window like a wide-eyed child, amazed by what seems to be equal parts chaos and order. I have practically memorized the 50-minute flight path from Guadalajara to Mexico City. Upon descent into...
Cuba is a metaphor, not a country

Cuba is a metaphor, not a country

Cafe La Habana, where according to legend, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and a group of Cuban exiles planned the Cuban Revolution to take down the Batista Dictatorship. It was also a favorite hangout of exiled Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. Over an Ethiopian dinner with...