“For every second of time was the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter.” —Walter Benjamin We witnessed recently the most heroic collective act that we can expect to see in our lifetimes, but it has not been much remarked upon. Perhaps this is because we in the Western left have become so accustomed […]
Into the Flood: Interview with a Palestinian-American Activist
As events in Gaza rapidly unfold, Hard Crackers spoke with Noor Salah, a Palestinian-American activist living in the United States. Hard Crackers: Tell us about yourself. Noor Salah: I’m Palestinian-American, first generation born in the United States. I come from a family of activists on both sides, especially my maternal side. My father was particularly […]
Iowa Bluffs
“Indeed, we are all implicated in Iowa.” –Heather Anne Swanson, “The Banality of the Anthropocene” Crossing the Mississippi River from Illinois into Iowa by car is an almost effortless glide, eliding entirely the forceful pull of the Great River and the centuries of violence greater still that harnessed its bucking current into an engine of […]
“Together, We Can Create the World We Want to See”: An Interview with ChatGPT
Recently, an editor at Hard Crackers discovered that many students in his classes were having their homework assignments written for them by an artificial intelligence (AI) program called ChatGPT, a piece of software that draws on the collective knowledge of the Internet to engage in conversation with users. Much of this writing demonstrated profound insight […]
What is to Be Hated
There is no hatred more sublime than the kind you share with others. This is true of the worst and best hatreds, but when that hatred lies between the political and the aesthetic, what some people might call “taste,” you really find that hatred is meant to be shared. Everyone hates cancel culture until the […]
Class Wall-fare in Oaxaca
Located in southern Mexico, just northwest of Chiapas and the Guatemalan border, Oaxaca is among the wealthier states in the country, culturally. It is also resource-rich, producing abundant agriculture, meat, fish, and other delights that continue to attract well-heeled Mexicans and expatriates from the rest of North America and Europe. For them, and for me, […]