READING,

[#34]
“The Right-Wing Migrant” by G. S.

The right-wing migrant grew up poor and speaking a different language. Back home, he was mocked for his accent until his late teens. The right-wing migrant worked hard. He worked hard for cheap. He was such a good deal that foreign men got him into planes to go labor in foreign lands. Multiple times. The right-wing migrant was so exploited that he was able to buy a nice house with a backyard, two cars, and a building with apartments that he rents, preferably to white nationals. The right-wing migrant toiled to make my life different from his. He gave me piano lessons, Vans shoes, CD-ROM encyclopedias, so I could learn about the world. But he disapproves of my expatriate life, for he cannot understand pleasure in leaving, only sacrifice. Because of that, mom left him with his riches.

The right-wing migrant says he does not hate migrants, but he repeats with the crowd that they steal our jobs. He loves his Black grandkids, but shares racist posts on social media, which I secretly report. Recently, he discovered online tutorials. YouTube videos by people with accents and skin colors he would not rent his apartments to. But he appreciates their knowledge. Says they’re different. Not lazy. They taught him to build solar panels, a heating system, and an electric bike. From scratch. I’m proud of him, the right-wing migrant, but I’m also deeply embarrassed. Sometimes I can only relate to him as an object of ethnography. His eyes light up with love and admiration when I enter the room. So, I avoid politics.

Moita, Portugal, Summer 2021


ARCHIVE,
[#44]
“Return” by Charlie Sofo, published 3 October, 2023 at 10:00:10.
[#43]
“Suite and Incarnating War” by Tracy K. Lewis, published 1 July, 2023 at 23:00:05.
[#42]
“Iceberg” by Chui Lee Luk, published 24 December, 2022 at 10:30:46.
[#41]
“Stain” by Camila Fabbri, translated by Elisa Taber, published 26 November, 2022 at 07:00:33.
[#40]
“Bled Dry” by Ellen Jones, published 16 September, 2022 at 18:30:30.
[#39]
“Crazy” by Sam Petersen, published 27 July, 2022 at 11:00:27.
[#38]
“What a Difference a Wing Makes” by Chi Tran, published 15 June, 2022 at 10:00:56.
[#37]
“Arts of the Contact Zone” by Mary Louise Pratt, published 25 April, 2022 at 05:15:59.
[#36]
“My Body in Weeks” by Heather Anderson, published 10 February, 2022 at 10:00:23.
[#35]
“hey ugly building” by Travis Jeppesen, published 10 December, 2021 at 20:00:04.
[#34]
“The Right-Wing Migrant” by G. S, published 24 November, 2021 at 16:30:12.
[#33]
“I, the Crystal Bear” by I Acevedo, translated by Elisa Taber, published 19 July, 2021 at 09:00:34.
[#32]
“Meditations on the Pedregal: Ecopoetic Visions” by Yaxkin Melchy, excerpt translated by Elisa Taber, published 2 June, 2021 at 03:00:28.
[#31]
“Glancing Backward” by Thalia Field, published 14 March, 2021 at 09:00:54.
[#30]
“On the Reasons of Monsters” by Elena Gomez, published 16 December, 2020 at 09:00:15.
[#29]
“Bedtime Stories” by Aveek Sen, published 9 November, 2020 at 16:00:16.
[#28.2]
“At Home in the Shop” by Souchou Yao, published 29 September, 2020 at 10:00:25.
[#28.1]
“At Home in the Shop” by Souchou Yao, published 28 September, 2020 at 10:00:35.
[#27]
“Dear editor” by Francesco Pacifico, published 23 September, 2020 at 12:00:38.
[#26]
“Cray Z Gurl,” “The Ruin of Your Name,” and “My Cabin” by Carlos Ríos, translated by Elisa Taber, published 15 August, 2020 at 11:00:19.
[#25]
“Dogs will eat those who die in the city—
1 Kings 16:4” by Xenia Cherkaev, published 18 May, 2020 at 03:15:42.
[#24]
“The Opinion changed as for Flowers” by Francis Ponge, excerpt translated by Jonathan Larson, published 25 April, 2020 at 10:00:08.
[#23]
“Spheresy 164” by Alina Popa and Nicola Masciandaro, published 13 March, 2020 at 12:00:21.
[#22]
“Cluster 1: Allegories of sa(l)vage1” by Ofri Lapid, published 28 January, 2020 at 04:00:20.
[#21]
“What Precisely Do You Mean by … ‘I’m on a Train’” by Sally O’Reilly, published 20 November, 2019 at 09:00:20.
[#20]
“Lightning” by Michael Taussig, published 30 October, 2019 at 01:00:33.
[#19]
“Poetry of the Tanti Rao” by Violeta Percia, excerpt translated by Elisa Taber, published 22 September, 2019 at 10:00:33.
[#18]
“Ground Zero” by Vilém Flusser, excerpt translated by Rodrigo Maltez Novaes, published 23 August, 2019 at 04:00:42.
[#17]
“And Say the Researcher Responded?” by Dylan Forest, published 9 June, 2019 at 07:00:54.
[#16]
“Manigua” by Carlos Ríos, excerpt translated by Elisa Taber, published 24 May, 2019 at 10:00:36.
[#15.2]
“Some Notes on Listening, Part two: criminality and care” by Andrew Brooks, published 1 May, 2019 at 03:00:02.
[#15.1]
“Some Notes on Listening, Part one: dancing and beholding” by Andrew Brooks, published 30 April, 2019 at 19:00:34.
[#14]
“Address/Dirección II” by G. García, published 7 April, 2019 at 08:00:17.
[#13]
“Remember they’re rock” by Kenzee Patterson, published 14 March, 2019 at 19:45:32.
[#12]
“A Love Story” by Emily Sekine, published 13 February, 2019 at 19:00:44.
[#11]
“Are You One or Two?” by Sergio Chejfec, published 5 February, 2019 at 11:00:00.
[#10]
“Bird in Hand” by Simryn Gill, published 21 January, 2019 at 00:00:55.
[#9]
“Clutter” by Maria Fusco, published 1 January, 2019 at 18:00:47.
[#8]
“A Lesson in El Soberbio/Una lección en El Soberbio” by Elisa Palacio, published 4 December, 2018 at 10:00:25.
[#7]
“MARITZA” by Reunión, published 1 November, 2018 at 12:00:10.
[#6]
“Address/Dirección” by G. García, published 21 September, 2018 at 06:00:11.
[#5]
“La Difunta Correa” by Alphonso Lingis, published 5 September, 2018 at 11:00:54.
[#4]
“The Dogs” by Petros Syrios, published 3 August, 2018 at 10:59:45.
[#3.2]
“In Search of Political Life” by S.E. Freeman, published 5 September, 2017 at 17:59:32.
[#3.1]
“The Perplexities of the Rights of Man”
(an excerpt*) by Hannah Arendt, published 5 September, 2017 at 06:08:32.
[#2]
“An Archipelago in a Landlocked Country” by Elisa Taber, published 14 July, 2017 at 07:51:39.
[#1]
“Chemical Collapse” by Astrid Lorange, published 3 June, 2017 at 14:30:36.