Subscribe to our RssFollow us on Twitter!

Archive for 'Essay'

Essay: Gun Violence in the USA

Essay: Gun Violence in the USA

by George Allen Americans are slow to comprehend disturbing trends. After Friday’s awful events in Newtown, CT, gun advocates are once again reminding us that it’s our mental health system that has failed us, not our [...]

Fernando Botero’s paintings of torture at Abu Ghraib prison

Fernando Botero’s paintings of torture at Abu Ghraib prison

by George Allen   Santiago’s Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos is a block long rectangular concrete and glass building outside of the sprawling Quinto Normal Park. The front entrance of the museum is [...]

The Marijuana Policy Project on Political Events in Latin America

The Marijuana Policy Project on Political Events in Latin America

By Morgan Fox   The Mexican election will certainly be an interesting one in terms of the drug war. While Calderon’s initial cry of all out war against the cartels was extremely popular when it began [...]

On Affairs of Literature

On Affairs of Literature

By Erik Berg There’ve been a few times I’ve been drained enough at night, when there’s nothing left in the tank to write, and I think of literature as is, the way I think of nature, [...]

How to End the War on Drugs

How to End the War on Drugs

Today The Washington Post worried out loud that drug money could affect the 2012 Mexican Presidential election.  They wondered whether tainted political contributions and outright threats could put the presidency back into the hands of the [...]

Why Christopher Hitchens Matters

Why Christopher Hitchens Matters

The usual duty of the “intellectual” is to argue for complexity and to insist that phenomena in the world of ideas should not be sloganized or reduced to easily repeated formulae.–Christopher Hitchens The reason I like [...]

Could the Mexican War on Drugs Spread to Chile?

Could the Mexican War on Drugs Spread to Chile?

Here in Chile HBO is showing a new made-in-Chile production called “Profúgos” ( meaning “fugitives”).  The opening episode showed a gun battle between this group of narcotraficantes and the PDI police in the port of Valparaiso. [...]

Why I Got Rid of FaceBook

Here is my view on FaceBook.  Last night I watched again the film “The Social Contract” about the founding of the company.  I was thrilled to have downloaded and read a copy of the Aaron Sorkin [...]

What does it mean to be Hispanic and why the Americans have got it Wrong

The Tea Party Republicans plan to make an issue of immigration in the upcoming presidential election as they have done in the past.  They decry the surge of what the Americans call “Hispanic” immigrants.  I would [...]

Of What Import is the Critic?

Of What Import is the Critic?

I am writing this essay to address directly one of my friends who is a fan of Isabelle Allende and Paul Coelho.  I explained to him I would never read these books because they are “pulp [...]