Translated by Marvin Najarro Write, write, write, write. Write if it rains, if it is sunny, if it is cloudy, with candlelight, amid the noise, the silence, at dawn, at noon, in the bathroom, on the bus, on the street, in the confinement of alienation. Write in drunkenness, sobriety, distress, tears, loss, and abandonment. In alienation. In abundance. In addiction. Despite the circumstances, write.
Translated by Marvin Najarro They don’t even come to be the last of the line, they are those of the subsoil, those of the sewer, those of the ditches by pickax and iron bar who carry in their shoulders the insult and scorn of an indifferent and double standard society that dishonors them. Those exploited day and night, every day, anywhere. Those of the weather-beaten back and the cracked hands, those of the wounded soul since time immemorial. Those of the transparent gaze and riddled chest.
Translated by Marvin Najarro Most times, if we decide to follow our dreams, that which makes us happy, we will find opposition among family and friends, society and the system; by upbringing patterns, stereotypes, ignorance or by simple imposition. Our only tool to defend ourselves is resistance: resist, resist, resist until the last day. Resist with passion, dedication, rapture, and love. Resistance often take us to loneliness, to absolute solitude, and it is in that solitude, in the turbulence of the battle, that our fears are revealed and from the depths of our being the most sublime of our unshakable…
Translated by Marvin Najarro In the early days of the 1990s, Ciudad Peronia began to fill with shacks and people who came from other poor neighborhoods and from the country’s west to invade the sector now known as El Mirador. It consisted of brushwood, tepetate streets, and an open-air market; a dusty place where vendors threw empty sacks and cardboard boxes to serve as a table to display their products on.
Translated by Marvin Najarro Already the nightmare of migrating without documents is terrible enough as to add to it being the victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation, labor, and of organs of men, women and children, with the latter two being the most vulnerable. Not to mention the LGBTI community which besides being discriminated against, suffers a great deal of abuse due to homophobia and patriarchy. The undocumented is a population constantly exposed to all types of abuse, both from mafias and government authorities of the countries of origin, transit, destination and return. A migrant in transit lives in a…
Translated by Marvin Najarro Patriarchy should be a topic of conversation, as when we talk about football, music, literature, art, movies, etc., etc. We should speak of patriarchy and its consequences, in school, college, social gatherings, everywhere and at all times. Why? Because it is our enemy to defeat, and it is not a theme that involves only feminists, we do not have to be feminist to talk about patriarchy; patriarchy is hurting us all, some more than others, because a man doesn’t get killed because of his gender, but women do.
Translated by Marvin Najarro I remember, as a child, when after selling ice creams at the market on weekends, I returned home at two o’clock in the afternoon, (at 12:30 a.m. on weekdays, because I had to go to school at 1 o’clock) and set out with my friends, each of us with a bag, to collect trash from house to house to go dump it at the ravine; we were paid 25 cents for a bag.
