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A Life Behind Bars (teleSUR English & TruthOut)

“An inmate at the Michigan department of corrections, Muskegon correctional facility. If you feel you’re being victimized or exploited by this prisoner, please contact GTL customer service at 855 466 2832. To accept this call press 0. This call is from a corrections facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. Thank you for usingContinueContinue reading “A Life Behind Bars (teleSUR English & TruthOut)”

Zapatista Schools Open Doors in Chiapas (The Media Co-Op)

International solidarity in the classroom SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LAS CASAS, MEXICO—Over the last few years, the Zapatistas in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas have garnered very little media attention and been infamously secretive. But although they’ve shifted away from their militant stance of the 1990s and their national political campaigning of the early 2000s, the movementContinueContinue reading “Zapatista Schools Open Doors in Chiapas (The Media Co-Op)”

Los Vigilantes de Tepito / Vigilantes in Mexico’s Capital (El Dominical)

(English Version to follow) CIUDAD DE MEXICO – Armados con walkie-talkie y placa de identificación, ellos patrullan uno de los barrios más peligrosos de la ciudad de México. Es un grupo, integrado principalmente por ciudadanos, el que brinda seguridad en un área que la policía no puede o no quiere proteger. Se autodenominan “policía comunitaria”,ContinueContinue reading “Los Vigilantes de Tepito / Vigilantes in Mexico’s Capital (El Dominical)”

Mexico’s escribanos: sending email without the internet (The Toronto Star)

Also known as scribes, they continue to be in demand, writing letters for estranged lovers and complaints to government MEXICO CITY—Typewriters are long thought to be a thing of the past, or an essential piece of vintage decor, but not in Santo Domingo Square in Mexico City. Here, some 20 escribanos sit outside, behind theirContinueContinue reading “Mexico’s escribanos: sending email without the internet (The Toronto Star)”

Fighting Impunity in Mexico – An interview with John Ralston Saul (PEN Canada)

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist or writer.  Since 2006, over 46 Mexican journalists and writers have been killed or disappeared, and their lives continue to be threatened.  As a result, many journalists and media outlets have opted to sensor themselves and have stopped reporting onContinueContinue reading “Fighting Impunity in Mexico – An interview with John Ralston Saul (PEN Canada)”

Oaxaca’s Diversity at Odds with Mexico’s Education Reforms

Last week, students of Oaxaca, Mexico protested the new education reforms recently passed by Mexico’s new president Enrique Pena Nieto.  President Nieto has been very busy lately enacting new reforms.  Many international media have been hailing the education reforms as being a positive thing for the country, since Mexico’s public school system is largely seenContinueContinue reading “Oaxaca’s Diversity at Odds with Mexico’s Education Reforms”

Lucha Libre – Theatre, Sport or Critique of Capitalism?

Every Tuesday evening a group of men gather together to put on tight spandex pants, form fitting masks, bright capes, and in some cases lather themselves with oil and enter a ring to try to pin each other down for three seconds.  Welcome to Mexican Wrestling, known in Spanish as Lucha Libre. Lucha Libre differsContinueContinue reading “Lucha Libre – Theatre, Sport or Critique of Capitalism?”

Love, Loss and the Mexican Border

(From my ‘travel blog’ series, documenting by trip from Toronto, Canada to Mexico City by land.) The bus was more full than all the other transit I had taken so far.  We were on our way from San Antonio, Texas down to Mexico.  I was feeling anxious because I felt that I didn’t have spaceContinueContinue reading “Love, Loss and the Mexican Border”