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Poverty
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Scavenger’s Run
In Guangzhou, China, I once saw two men row through the muddy waters of the Pearl River to pick up floating leaves of cabbage. Now, a few years later, that’s what I do: make the scavenger’s run.
September 1989Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Separate Vacations (Voyeurs In A Strange Land)
I was aware early on that we were on separate vacations, you in a sun-drenched country on the cusp of the rainy season, and I as lost as a piece of luggage, fallen into some dark, sludgy place, a certain waxy glaze over everything.
September 1989Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
The Homeless
I was just rousted off the floor of Grand Central Station by two cops, one of each race. It didn’t occur to me to say, “But I’m waiting for the train to Poughkeepsie!”
November 1988Readers Write
Signs And Symbols
The Alphabet Lady; a broad, black, shiny feather; a penny on the tip of the lion’s nose
October 1988Fiction
The House Of Esperanza
Esperanza had informally inherited the house from Salvador Escondido, her husband by common law, who one morning kissed her goodbye at the door, left for work in the fields, and never came back.
April 1988Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
From A Distance, Paradise
The children grew rapidly after birth, until they were weaned from the breast, and then never grew again. We never saw any cases of diaper rash because nobody could afford diapers. I had never before thought of diaper rash as a disease of affluence.
March 1988Fiction
Jesus Tales
“You see?” he said. “This is Saint Peter. I am the Lord Jesus.” The halos lasted only a second. Then they were gone.
November 1987Fiction
Aliens In The Garden
In the fields you worked in the open sun, sweating like a mule, crawling down the rows on your knees, your back bent and your spine cracking, breathing dust and insecticide fumes.
October 1987
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