My friend Cristian Cambronero has managed to create one of the most influential blogs in Central America, and most certainly the most important independent blog in Costa Rica. Fusil the Chispas has been live for five years now, and it has consolidated as a true alternative news source. It’s been a fascinating process to witness.
A few months ago, Cristian asked four writers, including me, to create Lechemilk, a guest blogger section on the site. Luis Chaves, María Montero, Carla Pravisani and I have published several literary articles. It has been interesting to see the reactions to different types of text, and how this particular audience responds to the things we’re writing. Most of them are opinion pieces, fictionalized, somewhat based in reality.
My pieces have ranged from the issue of same-sex partnership, to a silly article about the conversations I have about Costa Rica, and the latest was about my tendency to fall in love, frequently and profoundly, with random people. All texts are available in Spanish only.
Last time I mentioned Superdemokraticos, the project was just starting. By now, the project is coming to an end.
Turns out, the other superdemokraticos were fantastic writers. I’m amazed at the diversity of experiences and opinions that were brought into the project. All the articles were translated from Spanish to German, and some of them are available in English as well. Click on the question marks to switch languages.
My articles, linked here in Spanish, were:
Todavía en tránsito
Sobrevivir el día
Volver atrás ni para tomar impulso
Lluvia y cuerpo
Vasos sucios, ceniceros llenos
Formulario
Equipaje de mano
Atrapasueños
Leo para que me importen las cosas
This year we started sharing office space with Accion Latina, a non-profit organization publisher of El Tecolote newspaper. El Tecolote is part of the history of the Mission district in San Francisco, and has been a vital part of its arts and social justice movement since 1970. It has also been a training ground for many aspiring latino journalists. I’ve been helping out with occasional translations, and it’s always a thrill to see my name in old-fashion news print!
As many other independent media outlets, El Teco has been feeling the economic downturn and the challenges of adapting to new media, social networking tools and citizen journalism. Recently, they have started an alliance with Mission Loc@l, a project of hyper-local online news coverage developed by UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
A couple of days ago I translated this article (english) about the upcoming Encuentro del Canto Popular, a folk music festival that Accion Latina has been organizing for 28 years with local performers.
*Photo by edgehill
Itzpapalotl es mi blog personal desde hace más de seis años. En este espacio he publicado mis ejercicios de escritura creativa en varios formatos, mezclando lo cotidiano con la ficción. Itzpapalotl ganó un Bloggie Award al mejor weblog latinoamericano en el año 2001.
Itzpapalotl is my personal weblog since about six years ago. In this space I publish my creative writing experiments in different formats, mixing everyday reality with fiction. Itzpapalotl won a Bloggie Award to best latin american weblog in 2001.
