Y hoy, por qué no?

The first time Manuel and I met was during a theater workshop at the University of Chile in 2001 (?) Both Manuel and I thought we wanted to be actors (inner laughter). It was twenty years later, here in New York,  that one of my closest friends said to me: "You should meet Manuel, he wants to start a magazine that shows Chilean artists' work in the United States, and I think you should work together.". And that is how we met again.

 

The first thing that popped into my head when I heard about the idea of this magazine was "Why only Chileans?" "Why not amplifying all the Latin American creatives voices" but when I started writing about it (what was then just an idea, a project), I figured out why not? Is there any reason why we shouldn't write exclusively about Chileans? I understand that there aren't many Chileans in this world comparing with other nationalities, but does that really matter? There are many aspects of our shared identity that are not always clear-cut. We have many sides of what is the so call Latino identity, but not all of them. In addition, not all Chileans agree with this view. There is a lot of complexity in a collective identity, and we wish that it remained that way.

 

What are Chilean writers, visual artists, filmmakers, chefs saying here in NYC and in the rest of the US? What if we talk about them as a community? The truth is that we don't have many answers, but we do have thousands of questions. We have founded this revista with the intention that will also act as an investigation, a journey in which we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves while also reflecting on how we express and what we are saying.

 

It is here, on this little piece of cloud, where we can unite and connect with other people who share our interest in the concept of home, the place where we come from and the place where one construct oneself, and how that concept changes as one moves from territory to territory. The question is, however, how does the idea of home change over time? And how our identity change when we move our home? As I said, I don't have many answers.

 

With this edition, Romina, like an araña, introduces us to a web of thoughts about abortion practices initiated by a video of the always talented and much loved Cecilia Vicuña, an article always necessary, but urgent today.  Meanwhile, Maria interviews Jose Simian who shares copuchas and highlights about fellow Chilean musicians in this city. Our corazon is touched by Jose Ignacio Valenzuela's review of one of the books of our favorite pink giant. Camilo shows us the work Javier Alvarez did portraying the Latino delivery guys who saved us during the worst moment of the pandemic. Manuel give us a sneak peek of what Eduardo Pavez Goye is doing with Record Theather. And we visit les vecines of Mil Mundos who always impress us with their tireless activism and generosity.

 

Sean todes bienvenides.