Interviewing is in some ways the art of memory. Francisco Goldman More Quotes by Francisco Goldman More Quotes From Francisco Goldman I don't ever think about the utility of fiction. I don't believe in it or certainly don't require anybody to consider it. A novel or short story might be useful to a reader in all kinds of ways, many of which no writer would ever foresee, which is a good thing. Francisco Goldman kind believe thinking Mexico just needs more journalists, and especially more good places to publish and exhibit. There are all kinds of censorship practiced in Mexico, not just violent repression. Perhaps the biggest threat to good journalism here is the massive power of the country's media monoliths - Televisa and TV Azteca - who have 80% of the market. They endlessly saturate the country with propaganda and inanity. Francisco Goldman censorship journalism country I've written one book-length piece of journalism. The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi? That book had an impact. Eight years after it was published it's still having an impact in Guatemala. I remember when I wrote it, a surprising number of people said things to me like, "That is such an amazing story; why didn't you turn it into a novel?" Francisco Goldman book people art Maybe Pope Francis will say something on his visit to the US, maybe he'll rebuke Donald Trump and anti-immigrant racism and demagoguery beautifully, in a way that illuminates hearts and makes people begin to turn away. That would be miracle enough for me. Francisco Goldman racism heart people My earliest memories of going to Fenway with my father are a blur: many games, me too young to care, but aware that our team 'stunk.' In those years, the 1960s, the Red Sox baseball card I always coveted most was not Carl Yastrzemski's but the far more ordinary Felix Mantilla's. Francisco Goldman me red memories father I have never liked the memoir form because I tend to think that memory fictionalizes anyway. Once you claim that you are writing a narrative purely from memory, you are already in the realm of fiction. Francisco Goldman memory never think you When I see a blatant injustice, I can't keep quiet. I've been that way since I was a little kid. Francisco Goldman see injustice quiet way What's important about me is that I really have, in ways I never could have foreseen when I was young, a writing career that's reached a lot of different places. Francisco Goldman never me important writing 'Say Her Name' was a book I never wanted to write and never expected to write. I wasn't trying to do anything except write a book for Aura - a book that I thought I had to write. Francisco Goldman name never thought book I think the fact that my wife died in Mexico City makes it very important to me; my life went up in smoke at that moment, the family and the future we were going to have. At that point, I was anchored to the city in a way I've never been anchored to a place before. Francisco Goldman me future family life The U.S., like any other country, allows tourists into its borders in order to make money off them, and there's nothing wrong with that. Why give out tourist visas if you're not going to let tourists be tourists? Francisco Goldman nothing you money country You witness a lot as a journalist, and what you witness becomes a part of you. Francisco Goldman part you journalist witness In U.S. discourse, immigrants are mostly represented as less than human, a policy problem, or as just that, a category, and categories are prisons. Francisco Goldman human just immigrants problem My only way of processing anything for me is by writing. Francisco Goldman only me writing way I had one of those farcical bar mitzvahs where they spell out the words phonetically on index cards, and you don't even know what you're saying. Francisco Goldman words saying know you I identify myself as what I am. I'm half Jewish, like Proust. I have no other way to put it. Francisco Goldman i-am myself like way
