* Claire Skinner *
I’m lying on the bed reading Bob Hicok. Have you read him? He’s a loquacious, lively poet who takes me by the hand and says, “Let’s talk about French kissing and grammar and death in the span of a couple dozen lines, okay?”
* Jeremy Allan Hawkins *
At the turn of the twentieth century, the increasingly poor living conditions in central Strasbourg were the subject of study by municipal housing associations. Inspectors discovered buildings in advanced stages of dilapidation, often with large groups of people living in small single rooms with chronic humidity problems. Many residents lived in housing with no windows or direct light of any kind. Outside, the streets were narrow and dirty, spotted with dung heaps and all kinds of garbage. At the time, journalists and surveyors were openly referring to the old city center as resembling a cesspit or an open sewer. The city leaders decided a radical action would need to be taken to address the problem.
La Grande Percée: Modern Urbanism in Strasbourg, Pt. 1 Read More »
Detective stories appeal to the dream of resolution in which lurks the dreams of justice and salvation.
* Eric McDowell *
More so than any of the other films I have considered over the course of this series, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda (2012) is a film of firsts: not only is it Al-Mansour’s feature debut, but it’s also the first feature to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, the first feature directed by a female Saudi filmmaker, and Saudi Arabia’s first submission to the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film category.
First Films: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s “Wadjda” Read More »
* Airea D. Matthews *
Since Tractatus suggests that language mirrors states of affairs in which objects are engaged, questions arise: if the object is invisible, does the object even exist? What if the object is the Black body?
Meeting Wittgenstein at the Playscape Read More »
* Oksana Lutsyshyna *
On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines plane crashed in Eastern Ukraine, downed by the Russian terrorist forces, referred to as “pro-Russian separatists” in western media. The questions my US friends asked me most after the crash of MH17 near the Ukrainian town of Torez were as follows: Who are the people casually going through the dead passengers’ luggage? Why are they taking selfies next to the parts of the plane?
* Lillian Li *
Remember when you were a fan of just about everything? “Please don’t scream in the car!” your dad would shout when you became overexcited by a dog we had just driven past, or a convertible with its top up. “You’re going to give me a heart attack!” As early as the first grade, you had already accessed your stores of obsessive energy. You could not be contained.
Love Letter to My Fanfiction Past Read More »
* Kevin Haworth *
In Israel and Gaza, there are sounds that tell you when someone is trying to kill you. In Israel, a high-pitched siren signals an incoming missile and sends everyone to the nearest cover—either a public shelter, or the basement of your apartment, or your stairwell, or, if you’re on the highway, huddled between your car and the concrete divider, the best of bad circumstances.
Aan Alle Slachtoffers Read More »
* Paula Mendoza *
At the time, I was only dimly aware of the work that house members, reproductive rights activists, and other civic minded people were doing to call attention to, and prevent the passage of, this bill. That night I was to be thrown into the thick of it.
* Kaveh Bassiri *
Like many great works of modernist literature, these texts were new, self-conscious, and critical, though the Persian works seem to be darker and more scathing. Yet what is most unusual about these books is that they were mainly written and published in other countries. In other words, key foundational works of modern Iranian literature was born elsewhere.
Iranian Literature Born in Exile Read More »
