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10 Questions for Patricia P. Chu

March 20, 2020 - By Edward Clifford

Photo: Lee B. Ewing

Professor and psychoanalyst Dori Laub, creator of the Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, has drawn upon his own experiences in interviewing Holocaust survivors to construct a model for the interactive work of the interviewer. According to Laub, the interviewer in this delicate and unique situation must act as an analyst and create a steady , safe, and supportive environment, one in which Holocaust survivors can face their often vivid but fragmented memories and draw them into narrative form.
—from "Truth as Accessible as Looking Out a Window," Volume 60, Issue 4 (Winter 2019)

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10 Questions for Brian Chikwava

March 17, 2020 - By Edward Clifford

I had to take off, because I did not trust myself not to change my mind. I was fat and out of shape. Even at the best of times I had never been one for running, because I considered it an undignifying exercise. But this was not the time for preserving dignity.

The squatter camp—like the rest of the squalid rebirth of Zimbabwe in the roar of history at the turn of the century—was a disorderly site forever sprawling downhill. It seemed impossible to escape. With each stride the township that I was trying to reach seemed to float farther away.
—from “Heroes of Our Time,” Volume 61, Issue 1 (Spring 2020)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote...

Predictions for Post-COVID-19 World

March 15, 2020 - By Tabish Khair

Increased xenophobia, greater marginalisation of workers

I am interested in examining not what has been done or not done to tackle the Covid-19 threat, but what its consequences might be – apart from the immediate one, which is the tragic loss of lives and livelihoods.

One of the long-term consequences of the pandemic was visible right from the start when strongly racist remarks were made about the Chinese on social media, and in some cases Chinese people were beaten up or threatened. The fact that this particular outbreak occurred in China was used to sneer at Chinese cultural and eating habits, despite the fact that the virus was passed on from live animals to humans. The only way to avoid a virus is to stay away from all animals (including humans...

10 Questions for Xu Xi

March 12, 2020 - By Edward Clifford

Photo credit: Leslie Lausch

In 2010, the second morning of the Year of the Pig is the day after Valentine’s. Hong Kong’s in a good mood. On ATV Home, Harmony News broadcasts a senior citizen activity organized by a Christian social welfare group. Its goal—to reproduce past times by displaying personal possessions these seniors have preserved and staging pop songs and dances they perform, sporting makeup, wigs, and clothing from their youth. One woman could still wear her wedding dress. —from “The View from 2010,” Volume 60, Issue 4 (Winter 2019)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
An...

10 Questions for Lindsay Remee Ahl

March 9, 2020 - By Edward Clifford

You might have a lover who builds you a castle,
and in the field beyond the pond, a lapwing makes her nest.

The long-legged mother, black and white, and beautifully agile,
will pretend to have a broken wing to lure you around and away.

“Lapwing” means “disguise the secret.”
—From “Mythographic Shorthand,” Volume 60, Issue 4 (Winter 2019)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
Early on, I was interested in something unnamable that somehow became manifest in the act of typing. It had little to do with content—poetry or prose or an essay for school—something about the typing itself felt vital and important and mysterious. I received a typewriter for Christmas...