The following post was initially sent as an email message to a group of close friends. The author agreed to let us post it on Hard Crackers. Friends, As we read about the visits of Vice President Harris to Central America attempting to stem the tide of immigrants fleeing north to escape the poverty, corruption and […]
Plunder, Passage, Prison: Three Border Stories
Plunder “No nos toca;” basically, “it’s not our problem.” That’s what the municipal police officer told community members of Cruztón after paramilitaries ambushed a group of land defenders and assassinated Rodrigo Guadalupe Huét Gómez, a father, husband, son, and friend of many. Cruztón is a small community in Los Altos of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico […]
After Memorial Day
Once when I was a kid, my father took me to a Memorial Day Parade in Manhattan. I had no idea why he decided to do so. I remember feeling uncomfortable during the parade and wondered if he was trying to tell me something. He had been in the Navy during the Second World War […]
A Walk Down the Street in Seattle
Located on the corner of 128th St and Aurora Avenue are a Vietnamese noodle house, a Chick-fil’A, a used car lot, and a construction supply company that doubles as a used car lot, the latter presumably meeting the needs of contractors searching for vinyl flooring adhesive and a ’97 Camry. Highway 99 connects Canada to […]
Varkie (Piglet)
Varkie hailed from Kuruman, in the arid Great Karoo on the Ghaap Plateau. Before he was drafted into the army, Varkie was hired by the South African Railways (SAR), the government owned institution that ensured employment security for members of the white working class, no matter how unproductive they were. Varkie’s official job description on […]
Death of an Anarchist
On May 13 Peter Ventantonio, better known as Jack Terricloth, frontman of the World/Inferno Friendship Society, passed away at the age of 50. Few others in the history of the genre so seamlessly and sincerely combined the poetry, aesthetics, innovation, and politics beating in the amphetamine-fueled heart of punk. The World/Inferno Friendship Society was notorious […]