Writing

Essay |

“On Glamor”

“‘Glamor’ means magic, derived from ‘grammar’ (fr.); since in the Middle Ages scholars, i.e. grammarians, were ‘viewed with awe’ by the vulgar (who couldn’t speak Latin).”

Fiction |

“Lluvia Sin Agua”

“There was a rumor that today at five the camion-cisterna would return to their barrio. The big truck that sells water to the areas outside of the city that don’t have a water system. Ever since the water shortage started, the trucks came to el barrio less and less, until eventually it was just once a week.”

Fiction |

“Said”

“He said the police wouldn’t believe what he’d said if he told them he’d blacked out afterwards. He said he was worried the police would think he’d abused his son.”

Essay |

“Diversity: A Garden Allegory”

“The covenant for our homeowners association specifies that what I’ve done around my house is technically prohibited. There should be fewer wildflowers in my yard. Banish the milkweed.”

Interview |

A Conversation with David Moloney About Barker House

“I wanted to illustrate how working in this confined place, with rules, policies, procedures, takes away your individuality, even your voice. The institution wants the inmates to all look the same, because it strips them of freedoms. But they also want the officers to do the same.”

Essay |

“Metaphor As Illness”

“Illness is obscene in its reality. No wonder we hurry to clothe it in metaphor, to drape it in wooly lengths of symbolism.”

Interview |

A Conversation with Carolyn Forché

“I think there’s ancestral memory, there’s deep memory in our DNA carried from generation to generation. I think in the depths of our being as a species, we recognize this moment, we recognize the threat.”