Yesterday morning I traveled across the border to Nogales, Sonora to visit the Comedor de los Migrantes, a Jesuit-run cafeteria that serves meals to recently deported migrants. At least a third of the migrants who lined up for a breakfast of pozole soup and tortillas had been captured my US Border Patrol agents and deported […]
November
26
The Tohono O’odham and the Wall
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Two days ago I traveled into the Sonoran Desert and the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. The landscape reminded me of my time in the Sahara, especially in the refugee camps of the Saharawi. In both deserts, the dwelling places are simple one-story structures occupied by people named for the desert itself: both Saharawi and O’odham […]
November
17
Sounding the Wall
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
“Bach played in cathedrals,” musician Glenn Weyant told me. “The Sonoran Desert is my cathedral.” And Weyant’s instrument is the border wall. I traveled to Nogales with Weyant and watched him attach a contact microphone to the border wall. He plugged the mic into an amplifier and the wall sings before it is even played. […]
November
11
The Fence at Friendship Park
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
The Wall doesn’t end as much as it diminishes. Here, on the white sand between San Diego and Tijuana, the recycled Gulf War landing mats that form the border fence give way to a row of posts that lean like drunks in the surf. America and Mexico begin and end here, but the ocean doesn’t […]
“Fatherhood”
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Hello all. My story about becoming a father appears in the current issue of Alberta Views Magazine. The piece is easily the most personal story I’ve put to paper. I am sort of proud of it. The story will appear on the Alberta Views website eventually, but until then, here is a short excerpt (and […]
The Civic Campers
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
My profile on Civic Camp, a Calgary civic-action group, appears in this week’s Swerve Magazine (found in The Calgary Herald). Civic Camp is an assemblage of individuals, activists, and advocacy groups that work for change in Calgary and yearn to create a more liveable city. They are an inspiring bunch. The story is called “An […]
Back to the Walls
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
After a year as a new father, ten months as the University of Calgary’s writer-in-residence, a busy summer of magazine work, and half an autumn’s worth of teaching, I am ready to return to my major project: my walls book. Sometime this month I will travel to the US-Mexico frontier to write about the border […]
“Fellow Traveller” in Eighteen Bridges
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
My profile on hobo Ron Murdock can be found in the inaugural issue of Eighteen Bridges magazine along with pieces by fabulous writers like Richard Ford, Lisa Moore, Robert Kroetsch and Marina Endicott. I’ve had the pleasure of being in the same room with all of these people – though not all at once – […]
August
31
The Hobo at Willingdon Junction
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Last month I traveled to the West Kootenays to write about a hobo named Ron Murdock. In 1979, Ron Murdock abandoned the obligations and expectations of regular society for a life on the highway. In the last three decades he has hitchhiked all over Western Canada. He has slept in men’s hostels, emergency shelters, and […]
Hello. Goodbye.
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
In September, I will be reading together with Montreal poet Oana Avasilichioaei. The event celebrates the beginning of Oana’s residency at the University of Calgary, and the ending of mine. The event will be bittersweet for me. My 10-month Markin-Flanagan residency was the most productive period in my writing career so far, and I am […]
Elsewhere 