There have been a number of reviews written about Aaron Sorkin’s film The Trial of the Chicago Seven (available on Netflix). The film is a fictional account of the trial of leaders of the anti Vietnam War movement who came to Chicago in 1968 to protest both the Democratic Party’s nomination of “New Deal liberal” […]
Archives for 2020
Response To John Brown and The Good Lord Bird
Note from the Editors: A few weeks ago, we ran an interview with Marty Brown, a descendant of one of John Brown’s children. We had come across Marty via a letter that she wrote to the New Yorker Magazine. She allowed us to interview her for Hard Crackers. The gist of Marty’s letter and her […]
Drawing Ourselves into the Picture
My mother Leah frequented the Durban Public Library in South Africa at least once a week. As the youngest child, I was often forced to tag along with her. I enjoyed those sessions. I used to haul out the dinosaur books or the big portfolio tomes about the pictorial history of World War One. I […]
2020 Election–Impressions and Reflections
America appears to be divided into three more or less equal parts, at least when it comes to the election results. Thus far, just under 78 million people voted for Biden; about 73 million voted for Trump and around 78 million of eligible voters didn’t vote at all.[1] It’s likely that a good number of […]
To Make New England Go Red
As I switched tabs on my computer back and forth between the documentary on Ancient Egypt and the election night results, my phone buzzed. It was my cousin informing me that Trump was leading in Rhode Island. What? I asked, shocked. How? The map I was looking at had all of New England in blue. […]
Class on Crack
This is a story about crack, and everything that cracks underneath its weight. For the uninitiated, some exposition is warranted. The genre of the gonzo drug abuse romp has had its day, and neither is this a PSA. It is a true story about segregation, class and race, and a kind of cultural dissonance that […]