Short Thoughts
by Merick Humbert
August 22, 2024
Introduction
The area between black and white is grey, but not only grey. It is for the artist to craft that grey into reds and greens and blues, and every combination of the three, including black and white. This is where beauty lies. This is where conflict lies. This is where meaning lies. This is where I go to bed at night. And wake in the morning.
On Entertainment
Every court has its jester. Apollo and his muses. Seventeen thousand people sitting on the stone that was carved and set in the side of the hill of the Athenian Acropolis, waiting for tragedy to grip them. Waiting to be moved. People are all the same. Cheers. A monument to Dionysus. Pathos. Ethos. Logos. Toni Morrison and Anton Chekhov returning to the streets outside the Fillmore where they drank scotch and witnessed Lenny Bruce being led away in handcuffs. They went across the street to a small bar where Miles Davis was playing the trumpet, Woody Allen was on clarinet, Questlove on drums, Cole Porter on piano, Carlos Santana on guitar, and Billie Holiday on vocals. There was only the bartender and one other couple who sat at a small table with black linen and a red candle which had almost exhausted its wax and wick, drinking pinot noir and listening intently.
Ten of the Best Films from the 1950s
by Merick Humbert
April 13, 2024
The 1950s was a tumultuous time in the film industry. The rise of television in the home brought a new medium for film to compete with. There was an emergence in the international film market with the French New Wave, and rising, now iconic, auteurs such as Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa, producing some of their best work.
It was also a time in which Hollywood was inundated in controversy, as the House Un-American Activities Committee was compelling artists to inform on one another under the threat of being blacklisted, stirring up mistrust and paranoia, all in the name of the red-scare, and the hopes of rooting out communism…
Ten of the Best Films from the 1940s
by Merick Humbert
July 1, 2023
The 1940s was a decade marred by World War II, a conflict which left its mark on every aspect of American life, along with Europe and much of the rest of the world. Hollywood played its role, creating newsreels and films to increase military recruitment rates and sell war bonds using stars and rhetoric that would boost the morale of soldiers and civilians alike…
To Whom Does Art Belong?
An essay by Merick Humbert
May 18, 2023
Does art belong to the artist? To the writer? What if it is a collaboration, or a medium which requires a multitude of contributions? How about the consumer—the person experiencing the art in the moment? Or is it the owner of the physical piece or the rights?
Creating a Character & Finding Their Universal Humanity
An essay by Merick Humbert
April 26, 2023
There are certain aspects of human nature that are not only universal, but that are timeless.
Your first thought, when you set out to write a character, might be: how do I make my character unique? How do I make my character stand out? But just as important as what differentiates your character from the crowd, rests in their universal humanity, or what makes them the same…
A Life Time
A short story by Merick Humbert
April 10, 2023
“It hurts… It hurts… I’m scared… don’t leave me…”
I felt powerless—sitting there as she stared through me with a look of horror on her face.
“I don’t want to do this anymore… It hurts…”
My hand was clutched in her weak grip—all the strength she had.
“I can’t… I’m scared… make it stop… help me… help me.”
I will never forget that sound. She was all bones. Her skin was loose. Her hair was white. Her eyes were wide. She squeezed my hand as she cried out and my mother went searching for the nurse.
Nine Flowers for Julio
A short story by Mariana Dávila Moreno
January 11, 2023
Dear Julio,
I’m drinking the mate you brought us a month ago from Argentina. I keep my stash of it next to the postcard you sent before coming back to visit. The one of La casa Rosada. Martha never stops buying flowers now, since you gave her that porcelain vase. She almost seems happy, for a change. Remember when you first met her, seven years ago? Among the rum and cigarette smoke at one of Jorge’s legendary parties. Soda Stereo was blasting through the speakers and through Cerati’s voice you heard her, her laughter. You said it was so loud and contagious, taking over every corner of the room. Suddenly, everyone was laughing too. It was the first time you felt youthful since your exile from Buenos Aires. And I knew what you meant. Her laugher used to make me smile too and I miss it; I swear I do. Martha rarely laughs now, the toll of the years and your continued absence, have hardened her.
Ten of the Best Films from the 1930s
by Merick Humbert
December 21, 2022
The first talkie (a film including synchronized audible dialogue) was The Jazz Singer (1927) but it only had limited sound sequences. The 1930s was the first true decade of talking pictures, and some of which are brilliant. The following are some of the best. (Notable exclusions, The Wizard of OZ and Gone with the Wind. We wanted to go with films that are not quite as well known.)
Honing Your Craft: Advice for Writing
An essay by Merick Humbert
December 1, 2022
Can writing be learned/taught? It’s a question that has sparked plenty of debate, the answer being: yes, of course. No one is simply born with an innate ability to write. Anyone can learn and grow and get better. Now, can anyone be great? Of course not. That goes for anything. If you love it, do it. It’s as simple as that.
To write well—what is that? There are certain parameters that have been widely agreed upon, but in the end, much of it comes down to perspective. It is subjective, and anyway, what are the indications of quality writing? Is it sales? Is it critical adulation? Is it something else? What do you want out of your writing? These are questions that you should ask yourself. And then you must practice, and practice and practice some more. Writing is like any craft; it is something you must continuously refine and polish or it will grow stale. It takes time; it takes patience, and it takes plenty of rejection. These are things that you must accept. You must write because you love it and because you have something to say—not for what you hope it will bring you. Write what you would want to read. Here is some practical advice for writing fiction.
CONTENT WARNING
Stand Up
A short story by Merick Humbert
November 30, 2022
It was a small room of about one-hundred and sixty. Couples and friends were sitting around tables, laughing and conversing as waiters weaved their way between all the fray, taking orders and replenishing drinks. The bar was in the back where certain patrons dwelled and others waited to place their order. As Tim walked across the stage, attention was directed toward the front of the room.
“How’s everybody doing tonight?” he asked taking the microphone out of its stand.
The conversation around the room began to dissipate; there was a short round of applause, and someone whistled and yelled out: “Yeah!” Tim looked in that direction and noticed his friends, Elizabeth and Harry, sitting at a table in the middle of the room, to the left of the stage. The spotlights made it difficult for him to see most of the crowd and his eyes quickly went to the floor where they would mostly remain with short glimpses intermittently dispersed over that small sea of souls.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said. “I’m happy to be here tonight.” He slowly began to pace to the left of the stage and then back to the right, very reserved, and despite his many times on stage, the same fear and discomfort coursed through his veins as the very first time he set foot in front of a crowd, ten years before. Comedy was his calling, something he felt he must do, something he was meant to do. It wasn’t the discomfort that he relished, but the feeling of accomplishment that overcame him the moment he stepped foot off the stage—not to mention the laughs, there was nothing like getting laughs.
Diluvium
A short story by Mariana Dávila Moreno
November 23, 2022
Imagine one of the invisible cities of Calvino, where the traveler Marco Polo describes to the emperor, Kublai Khan, the improbable places he’s been: cities that float in the sky, mobile cities in the shape of a caravan, cities that resemble a spiral. Or imagine Pedro Páramo’s Comala, so old and inhabited by ghosts and maybe then you can begin to see Mérida with its old, colonial houses—architecture that’s been compared to that of Cuba. Moss on the walls because of the humidity, 45ºC in summer. Not much better in winter. A heat that frizzes hair, makes sweat drip off backs, requires three showers a day, unbearable.
Imagine the cathedral—exactly the same as any cathedral in any Latin American town, replicas of themselves, colorful. And on the piazza, the people: marquesitas vendors, hawkers of helium balloons with cartoon designs and soap bubbles in florescent bottles, children playing soccer with an empty bottle of water. And of course, the rain.