Politics

  • The Rise of the Far-Right Among Young Germans - Defector, September 2024: The far-right AfD party has gained significant ground in key German state elections, especially among young voters. In fact, they’re one of the fastest-growing parties among the under-30 demographic. I took a look at what’s driving this trend, and how TikTok plays a key role in transmitting far-right messages.

  • Who is the “Right” Kind of Refugee? - Defector, April 2022: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced many Ukrainians to flee for their lives, with many making their way toward Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Displaced Syrians in Germany have risen up to help these new refugees, conscious of the horrors of Putin’s bombs, while also criticizing the stark contrasts to how the EU acted in 2015 versus now.

  • ‘Black Lives Matter’ Is a Global Cry, But White Argentinians Don’t Seem to Hear It - Zora Magazine, July 2020: Afro-Argentinians have long suffered from oppression, erasure, and violence in their own country. As “Black Lives Matter” becomes a global movement, Afro-Argentinian activists are skeptical as to whether it will change things in Argentina.

  • Argentina Can’t Quit Peronismo - The Nation, October 2019: On October 27, Argentina voted a new Peronista government into power after four years of Mauricio Macri’s oppositional party. Why is it that Argentina seems to constantly return to Peronismo, and what do English-language publications get wrong when talking about this complex political movement?

  • Should a Notorious Buenos Aires Slum Become an Official Neighbourhood? – The Guardian, August 2019: The Villa 31 is one of the most famous slums in Argentina. Located in central Buenos Aires, it’s home to 40,000 people and subsists on a parallel economy. A new government plan to urbanise the area and officially integrate the Villa into the city sounds great on paper, but for residents who have been discriminated against and ignored for decades, trust is hard to come by.

  • Germany’s Slow Path Toward Changing Nazi-Era Abortion Laws – Dazed Media, March 2019: In Germany, abortion is still not a given right. The Nazi-era Paragraph 219a in particular is a source of heated debate, since it forbids doctors from independently giving information about abortion services. As pro-life vigilantes take it upon themselves to report doctors, feminist activists are rising up to demand a change in a legislation with a dark past.

  • Lesbian Asylum-Seekers at the Mercy of German Bureaucracy – Deutsche Welle, March 2019: Success Johnson from Nigeria and Diana Namusoke from Uganda are two lesbians who’ve fled to Germany in search of asylum and are now in danger of being deported after the government denied their applications. The reason? The government doesn’t believe they’re gay, a common hurdle for LGBTQ refugees.

  • Mesut Özil's Fallout with the German National Team Revealed Some Ugly Truths – GQ, July 2018: When the Arsenal star announced his retirement from the German National Team due to racist harassment, the subsequent fallout revealed the complicated consequences of what happens when the "model minority" stops playing the part.

  • Five Ways to Effectively Protest, According to Carmen Perez – GQ, November 2017: Carmen Perez, the co-chair of the Women's March on Washington and the executive director of the non-profit The Gathering for Justice, talked to me about activism, being a good ally, and the importance of taking a stand.

  • Colin Kaepernick Will Not Be Silenced – GQ, November 2017: For GQ's Man of the Year cover, Kaepernick asked that we forgo the traditional profile and instead focus on his friends and fellow activists to talk about activism, the importance of social consciousness in 2017, and having difficult conversations with people you disagree with. I interviewed Nessa Diab, his partner and an activist radio personality, and Carmen Perez, the co-founder of the Women’s March.

  • Inside Donald Trump's Election Night War Room – GQ, November 2017: Journalist Ben Schreckinger and I set about reconstructing an oral history of what really happened the night Trump won by talking to those who were on the scene, including Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway, and more.

  • The German Elections Were A Disturbing Win For The Far-Right – GQ, September 2017: I dissect the results of Germany's Parliamentary elections in late September, and talk to a foreign policy expert about the effects Germany's far-right AfD party may have on national and international policy.

Culture

  • Hamburg’s swanfather: Keeping birds out of trouble since 1674 – ADP ReThink Quarterly, February 2022: Olaf Nieß holds one of the oldest civil servant jobs in Germany. His most important task? Taking care of Hamburg’s swans, the city’s emblems that have been protected by city law since the Middle Ages.

  • The Fuggerei: The World’s Oldest Social Housing Project – Deutsche Welle, August 2021: The Fuggerei estate in Augsburg is celebrating its 500th birthday. A rent that’s never been raised since the estate’s inception, a curfew, and three daily prayers are just one of the aspects that make this housing project unique.

  • The German National Women’s Team Plays for a Nation that Doesn’t Care – Deadspin, June 2019: The German national team are clear favourites during this year’s Women’s World Cup, but they’re struggling to get anyone at home to pay attention. A video created by the team meant to call out the unfair treatment, but instead it falls flat when the players end up enforcing the very gender binary they’re trying to escape.

  • 15 Must-Read Translated Books from the Past 5 Years – Vulture, May 2019: As a part of Vulture’s celebration of the PEN World Voices Festival, I contributed to a package on translations, where I discussed some of my favourite books that are finally also available in English.

  • Samanta Schweblin’s Deliberately Slow, Perfectly Times Rise to American Fame – Vulture, May 2019: Samanta Schweblin is one of the most exciting contemporary authors from Latin America, and she has fans all over the world. So why has it taken so long for her work to finally be published in English?

  • Valeria Luiselli Discusses Migrant Children and Other Lost Souls – Vulture, February 2019: I interviewed the Mexican novelist Valeria Luiselli (Tell Me How it Ends) about her new book, Lost Children Archive. We talked about immigration, being a bilingual writer writing in English and Spanish, and what it means to try participating in America’s “Theatre of Belonging.”

  • Netflix’s Participation at the Berlin Film Festival Is Riling Up Cinema – Hyperallergic, February 2019: At this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Netflix is hoping to win the top prize with its Spanish prestige drama Elisa y Marcela. But cinema associations are decrying the streaming giant’s participation, calling for the film to be withdrawn from the competition, and fearing for the future of cinemas.

  • A Film by Bertolt Brecht – Los Angeles Review of Books, January 2019: In 1928, Brecht’s Threepenny Opera was an unexpected hit. But when he tried to turn it into a film and challenge the boundaries of the medium as well as amp up the scathing critique of unchecked capitalism, the studios revolted. Now, over 80 years later, Brecht’s film was made—and his biting commentary on capitalism’s iron-clad reign is as current as ever.

  • Silicon City: San Francisco in the Long Shadow of the Valley – BookForum, November 2018: I reviewed Cary McClelland’s book about the devastating side-effects the tech industry has had on San Francisco, the people left behind as collateral damage, and the hypocrisy of the tech industry’s claims of meritocracy.

  • 21 Books You Don’t Have to Read – GQ, April 2018: I interviewed several famous authors, such as André Aciman and Geoff Dyer, about what canonical books have been upheld for too long, and what underrated books you should read instead.

  • Sean Baker And His Cast Of Newcomers Will Break Your Heart With The Florida Project – GQ, October 2017: I interviewed Sean Baker (from Tangerine) about his excellent new film The Florida Project and about his decision to cast first-time actors to tell the story about the plight of the hidden homeless living in budget motels in the shadows of Orlando's Disney World.

  • Phoenix Aren't Reinventing The Wheel, They Just Want To Take You For A Ride – Noisey, June 2017: I reviewed Phoenix's show, which was one of the headlining acts of the 2017 Governor's Ball Music Festival in New York, and discovered the distinct pleasure of watching a band that's found their groove and feel more than comfortable staying in it.

  • Robert Pirsig Wrote The Truly Great Road Trip Novel – GQ, April 2017: On the heels of Robert M. Pirsig's death in April, I revisited his cult novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and examined how it took its place in the literary canon for the disaffected, the misunderstood, and the eternally yearning.

Longform

  • My Terminally Ill Aunt Wanted To Die On Her Own Terms, But Couldn't – BuzzFeed, August 2017: In many countries throughout the world (and in the majority of states in the US), assisted dying is illegal, including in Argentina, where my aunt was diagnosed with terminal cancer. What followed was an attempt to gain control over the one aspect of her life that she should still have some say over: how she was going to die.

  • The New Face of Vogue – Self-published, October 2016: While voguing and the ballroom communities that practiced it were still considered a niche group when balls and dances were springing up across Harlem in the 70s and 80s, it's now fully entered the mainstream. I tag along with key members of New York's ballroom community as they deal with the commodification of their art form, passing down traditions to a younger generation, and taking up the mantle of activism to raise awareness about HIV/Aids, which decimated the ballroom community in the 80s and 90s.

Life