Monthly Archives: February 2017

Will Our Passing be a Whisper?

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

Our lives are like a pebble thrown into a placid pond – the ripples of which expand to reach even the distant ends of the waters, touching the lives of people great and small as they extend out. Some of … Continue reading →

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“Lords of Misrule” – A Joel D. Hirst Interview in Istanbul

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

I gave an interview to an Istanbul, Turkey based journal on my new novel “Lords of Misrule“. You can read it below – and if you speak Turkish you can go here. 1) How did you decide to write this … Continue reading →

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The Recipe for Revolution

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

I lived and worked for seven years inside Hugo Chavez’s revolutionary Venezuela. Mostly during the times when it still had energy and purpose and when the revolution was still exciting; to the committees and clubs and marchers and voters but … Continue reading →

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Brazil’s Moment of Madness

Posted on February 19, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

I wrote this a while back for InBrazil – I thought I’d reblog it here. “But what can I say about a country that experiences a near miss? Like a distressed man who, in an act of madness cuts his … Continue reading →

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The Torture of Leopoldo Lopez

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

Originally posted on Joel D. Hirst's Blog:
As I write this, I am sitting in a hospital waiting room as my wife undergoes a routine surgery (she’s now in post-op). Over the last hour we spoke together with the…

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“Housekeeping” – A Book Review

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

“And let God purge this wicked sadness away with a flood, and let the waters recede to pools and ponds and ditches, and let every one of them mirror heaven. Still, they taste a bit of blood and hair.” Children … Continue reading →

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Camus “The Fall” – A Book Review

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

“I always hope, in fact, that my interlocutor will be a policeman and that he will arrest me for the theft of ‘The Just Judges’.” Seems to me that Camus thought a great deal of himself – which is apparent … Continue reading →

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Accra, and the Future

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

Mine is not a travel blog. Though I travel all the time, the places I go and the situations I encounter don’t fit the “wine and cheese” feel-good stories that make travel blogs so cathartic. Castles in Europe; deep wide … Continue reading →

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Meme Away, Oh Fearsome Warriors

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

There’s a lot of debate these days about the future of America, our values, and our place in the world, isn’t there? The agora it certainly is not, to be sure. Sage figures expounding logic has been replaced by Facebook … Continue reading →

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Venezuela’s Ongoing 25 Year Coup

Posted on February 4, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

Explosions and gunfire rattled through the early morning Caracas silence. “Coup” they said as we stumbled into the living room, and they turned on the television. A tank was knocking down the doors of a palace. Armed figures were flitting … Continue reading →

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