à la carte spirit by ilona fried
violence
How Have You Been Silenced?
The Orlando bloodbath has left many people, myself included, speechless. What is there to say, after the umpteenth mass shooting in this supposed greatest nation on earth, a country where, in some places, it’s easier to buy a semi-automatic than Sudafed? Temporary speechlessness, in the aftermath of a shock, is not the same as silence. Perhaps the ultimate … Continue reading
Guns: On the Camino and Here
Not long ago, I walked a rainy, misty stretch of the Camino, between the farming villages of Hontanas and Castrojeriz, with a German man my age. He told me that he came to Spain because he was feeling alienated from the growing corporatization of his own culture and was out of sorts with himself. “Me, … Continue reading
Violence is here, and it is us
More than 20 years ago, when I lived in Budapest, a ringing telephone woke me one morning and I stumbled across the room to answer. Disoriented and groggy, I lifted the receiver and through the crackling line heard my mother’s voice. She told me that one of my high school classmates and childhood friend had … Continue reading
Bullies and Bullets
My sixth grade teacher had a bristly mustache, acne scarred skin and a bulbous red nose one might find on an alcoholic. He sported mobster-like sunglasses, a leather jacket and a swagger. More often than not he sat on (rather than at) his desk in a corner of our rectangular classroom. The rest of us … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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