“A Place in the World” an Award Winning Novel by Cinda Crabbe MacKinnon: a Critical Review.
by Rina Brundu. The geographical and cultural background of the award winning novel “A Place in the World” (2013) by Cinda Crabbe MacKinnon is a country where “The drug cartels exceeded the violence of the guerrillas and bandits. Cocaine ruled, and drug lord Pablo Escobar was feared throughout the country”; a country which “has been at war with both the Marxist guerrillas and left wing paramilitary for decades, but the violence since the 70’s escalated with the drug trade”; a country in which “In 1989 President Galan was assassinated and two presidential candidates killed”; a country where coffee fincas (farms) can be easily and unexpectedly put out of business by acid rain from powerful volcanic eruptions… But it is also a country of decent and good-natured people, unspeakable beauty, and a paradise for botanists and geologists the world over who in its interior can enjoy all “maravillas” of the real jungle. This country is Colombia. Read More
The Gift Giver. A short story by…
Rina Brundu. Fräulein Katja, my lipstick, please! I couldn’t do without a D&G “serious shot of color” on my lips! “Cherry-lips” that’s what Michael used to call me, or was it John? John, who? Merryweather? Perhaps. I’ll be damned if I remember his family name, It was long ago anyway, shortly after World War II. Also, my heart belonged to Mr. Greenwood at that time.
“What do you know about World War II, Bessy?” Read More
Amnesty International – Urgent action: Raif faces another 950 lashes.
Raif Badawi was publicly flogged, receiving 50 lashes after Friday prayers on 9 January. Raif was escorted from a bus and placed in the middle of the crowd, guarded by eight or nine officers in front of the al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah. He was handcuffed and shackled but his face was not covered – everyone could see his face. Read More
A letter from Israel after the terror attack at Jerusalem Synagogue
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The Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Stephen King: WHEN?
I do not believe there would be any science at all without intuition.
(Rita Levi Montalcini, 1902-2012, 1986 Nobel Prize in Phisiology or Medicine) Read More
Does Castro’s Cuba still exist? An interview with writer Gordiano Lupi
by Rina Brundu. Gordiano Lupi, Italian writer and publisher, has been for several years the Italian translator of the Spanish language blog Generation Y, a blog owned by a Cuban dissident of Castro politics, Yoani Sanchez. Following their recent artistic break up – I have asked Gordiano a few questions about the actual motives that led their friendship to such an unhappy end as well as about the political status quo of modern Cuba. Read More
The Dead Cities of Syria
by Nancy Penrose. They are living in the Dead Cities of Syria. In Serjilla, amid the abandoned ruins of ancient Roman villas, refugees now shelter from war. I saw this in a news video, recognized the place where, a few years ago, I took a happy tourist stroll.
The reporter crouches beside a wall of stone as shells explode above him. Below, in rooms where animals once lived, families huddle. The camera pans the faces of children. Their eyes stare with naked blankness. A woman squats beside a fire: “What am I, a terrorist? What’s my little child, a terrorist?” she asks through the translator. The camera finds another woman as she thumbs away tears. Read More
