Editor’s note: “6 p.m., Cerro Fortin” is one of the two winning stories in the Faulkner Mixtape Writing Contest. The challenge was to write a nonfiction story using two different narrators.
Author’s Note: The scene: 6 p.m., a hiking trail in Mexico. 1st narrator: Mexican police officer. 2nd narrator: Sarah
6 p.m., Cerro Fortin
Estábamos subiendo la colina cuando vi una guërita, bajando lento con un perro, no mames, buey, un perrote, con unos pinches dientotes, jalando por adelante este guërita flacita. Ella lo jaló por atrás y lo intento parar pero parecía que iba el perro ganando.
“No mames, buey,” le digo a mi compañero, “mírale este guërita. Que madres esta haciendo solita por aquí a las 6 de la tarde?”
“Pidiendo desmadre,” dijo este compañero mío, aburrido.
“Verdad?” le digo. “Quieres pararla?”
“Para que?” pregunta. Pretende ser flojo, pero sé que es mas nervioso que yo, que se pone nervioso con estes jueguitos.
“Para que no, cabrón?” le digo. Continue Reading »
Sarah Menkedick just launched a new blog called PosaTigres. The name comes from a story by Cortázar. So far she’s written about where she’s from (Noble County, Ohio)-
Not so rural or wacky that you could base an acerbic indie film there, but not so cosmopolitan that you couldn’t find a waitress to call you “hon” or a creepy freedom bumper sticker or a 19th century town full of antique stores and diners selling pie.
And about where she lives now (Mexico)-
Travel can teach you quick and dirty. About where sugar cane comes from. About where the money for “progress” in Mexico often goes.
And about language (Spanish and English)-
The older I get, and the further from the States I am, the more I can see how much Americanness belongs to ser, and having that fixed category can be reaffirming. For as many other parts of being I accumulate there is always a baseline of Americanness, and I have to figure that into the equation.