Being Multicultural: On Gender Roles
In 1993 my parents moved our family of five from Venezuela to the United States. I was only 5 years old. Somewhere along the way, I began the struggle to define my own identity.
Pumps, Profit and Plastic: World Water Day 2013
Is access to clean water a basic human right? The customary response for most people is yes, of course, but still an estimated 1.4 billion people currently lack access to safe drinking water. And this is just one of the […]
Big Rises: Rating the Ratings of Press Freedom in Myanmar and the United States
When private-run daily newspapers finally made it to the newsstands in Myanmar last Monday for the first time in 50 years, Myanmar nationals and press freedom advocates had reason to celebrate. Before April 1, state-controlled media in Myanmar had a […]
Ecuador’s Mining Struggle Is a Hollywood Blockbuster
Ecuador doesn’t often grab international headlines, but questions about its current course have relevance for the Western Hemisphere and beyond. What kind of leader is Rafael Correa? Is he a popular anti-imperial economist who champions 21st century socialism and […]
The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and the Hypocrisy of International Scrutiny
Following the announcement on March 4, 2013, that an 18-month old child in Mississippi had been cured of HIV with an early and rigorous regimen of anti-retroviral drugs, HIV/AIDS is briefly back in headlines in the U.S. Amid the flurry of excitement […]
Obama’s Legacy and the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Syria
The leader of the opposition Syrian National Council just resigned. Foiled is another plan to truly arm the rebels and bring down Bashar al-Assad. Of course the CIA is facilitating arms procurement and US “nonlethal” deliveries to vetted warrior brigades, […]
No Church on the Neoliberal Reservation: Critical Perspectives on Labor Organizing in the 21st Century
Human beings in a mob What’s a mob to a king? What’s a king to a God? What’s a God to a non-believer? – Frank Ocean
Argo: Best Propaganda
Argo, a suspenseful tale portraying America’s favorite bad guys, Iranians, as angry gun-toting religio-fascists, just won the Best Picture Academy Award for 2012. Ben Affleck’s directing is better than his acting, but this was not a character driven movie—it was […]
Film Review: “No” and the Power of Media
The movie No was recently released in selected US cities and marks the first Chilean film to ever be nominated for an Oscar. Up for Best Foreign Film, No is a fictional story based on the real-life 1988 media campaign […]
Days of Fighting and Days of Glory: a short film
This past summer, I helped conduct a youth media workshop for adolescents living in the unpacified favela of Maré in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Politically Unsexy Key to Immigration Reform
On Monday, January 28, a bipartisan group of eight senators introduced an outline for comprehensive immigration reform, calling for a “tough but fair path to citizenship,” reform of the legal immigration system, effective workplace verification, and an improved process for […]
