By Pickett Porterfield
Luis doesn’t like Mexicans. He says they’re stupid and lazy. The funny thing is that Luis is Mexican. He owns a coffee shop in downtown Irapuato. Every morning I sit at a table on the balcony sipping his potent secret blend of coffee. I like to watch the city come to life from [...]
By Adrian Cole
The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong, but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land. (Victor Hugo)
When I finally left the United States it was late summer. Gravity forced [...]
By Dave Mondy
Phenice bends over and grabs the pool table.
Then she bends lower — so her posterior is the highest point on her body. And she shakes it, in that amazing way you see on rap videos.
She shoots a sly smile my way, as if to say:
This is for you.
And the problem is: I’m the [...]
By Peter Bronski
A hot, dry wind whips across the arid Arkansas River valley, blowing sand and dust between my teeth. I tip my head forward into the harsh sun, shading my eyes beneath the brim of my cowboy hat. Peering out from under its crushable, brown felt, I survey the others idling about outside the [...]
By Michelle McAlister
Don’t get me wrong. I can appreciate backpackers’ zealous appetite-for-fun, and even their raucous pranks, but I did not fly across the Atlantic to wear a Grecian toga and pound shots of pink-hued booze in a 10:00am contest. So when my taxi driver shows up to rescue me from the Pink Palace, a [...]
By Nicole Zimmerman
“Um beijinho,” Gean coaxed, his lips just brushing my ear as he whispered it. “One little kiss.”
It wasn’t romance that I was seeking when I came to Brazil. But it sought me. Romance swept me into its arms on the dance floor of a forro festival. It raised its eyebrows and murmured “gostoza” [...]
By Barbara Robertson
“The Mexican is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his toys and his most steadfast love.” - Octavio Paz
This is what I remember: White sheets limp with sweat twisted around his naked body, a low mattress in a small white room, sun [...]
By Derrin DuFord
Three dollars. It can’t even get you a beer in a New York City bar. But it’s the going rate for a haircut in Panama City. Peppered all over the El Cangrejo neighborhood, the barbershops, too many for the available number of scalps, all advertise the same rate. Then again, I never saw [...]
By Jennifer Wells
I have a theory, supported by a great deal of data, that western women lose 20-30 IQ points in the presence of a beautiful African man with dreadlocks. When the dreads are accompanied by good teeth, she can lose up to 40 points. Depending on how smart she is to begin with, this [...]
By Zack Kushner
Lost in the swirling dust, the sun scalding our scalps and our pursuers gaining, we go for broke. In order to escape Ethiopia, we resort to madness.
High above the Ethiopian city of Gondar, 17th century castles square their shoulders and face the sun. It is as if one of the exuberant potholes on [...]
