OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS
NATURAL GLORIES
UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS
CALLOUSED HANDS
FLORENCE
DARWIN’S VOYAGE
DARWIN’S QUESTIONS
I’LL SHOW YOU THE WORLD
ONLY HUMAN
THE INSANITY OF FREEDOM
THE GOLD RUSH
WHITMAN
EMILY
UNIVERSAL TARANTULA
MR. CORPORATION
DON’T STEP ON MY FLOWERS
WOMEN OF THE COMMUNE
LOUISE
VICTOR HUGO
LESSON IN COLONIAL CULTURE
HERE LAY INDIA
CHINA DISHED UP AT EUROPE’S TABLE
AFRICA DISHED UP AT EUROPE’S TABLE
CAPTAIN OF DARKNESS
TWO QUEENS
WILDE
FRIGID RIGID MORALS
FATHER OF THE BOY SCOUTS
FATHER OF THE RED CROSS
CHURCHILL
COLOSSUS OF RHODES
THRONE OF GOLD
ORIGIN OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS
ORIGIN OF THE WILD WEST
BUFFALO BILL
THE AGES OF SITTING BULL
ORIGIN OF DISAPPEARANCES
TALLEST STATUE
LONGEST STREET
MARTÍ
MUSCLES
MARK TWAIN
KIPLING
SWORD OF THE EMPIRE
CIVILIZED RICE
ORIGIN OF DEMOCRACY
ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSITY
ORIGIN OF SADNESS
OUT OF PLACE
SOULLESS
RESURRECTION OF CAMILLE
VAN GOGH
THAT SCREAM
PROPHETS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
ORIGIN OF ADVERTISING
POTIONS
MARKETING
MARIE
FATHER OF THE LIGHTBULB
TESLA
ORIGIN OF AERIAL BOMBARDMENTS
THE AGES OF SANTOS DUMONT
PHOTOGRAPH: A FACE IN THE CROWD
KAFKA
NIJINSKY
ORIGIN OF JAZZ
RESURRECTION OF DJANGO
ORIGIN OF THE TANGO
ORIGIN OF THE SAMBA
ORIGIN OF HOLLYWOOD
ORIGIN OF MODERN ART
ORIGIN OF THE MODERN NOVEL
THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
FORBIDDEN TO BE POOR
INVISIBLE MEN
INVISIBLE WOMEN
FORBIDDEN TO BE A PEASANT
PHOTOGRAPH: THE THRONE
RESURRECTION OF ZAPATA
LENIN
ALEXANDRA
STALIN
ALIBIS
PHOTOGRAPH: ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE
THE INQUISITION IN STALIN’S TIME
ROSA
ORIGIN OF TWO COUNTRIES
UNGRATEFUL KING
THE AGES OF JOSEPHINE
SARAH
SURRENDER OF PARIS
HAREM NIGHTS
PESSOA’S PERSONS
WAR STREET
FORBIDDEN TO WIN ELECTIONS
FORBIDDEN TO BE FERTILE
FORBIDDEN TO BE A COUNTRY
RESURRECTION OF SANDINO
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PROPAGATION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE AMERICAS
FORBIDDEN TO BE A WORKER
FORBIDDEN TO BE ABNORMAL
FORBIDDEN TO BE JEWISH
SOCIAL HYGIENE, RACIAL PURITY
ROAD RAGE
VICTORIA
THE DEVIL IS RED
LAST WISH
ROSARIO
GUERNICA
THE COMMANDER WHO CAME FROM AFAR
RAMÓN
MACHADO
MATILDE
CHEAPEST JAILS IN THE WORLD
RESURRECTION OF CARNIVAL
FORBIDDEN TO BE BLACK
INSOLENCE
BLACK WINGS
BLACK STAR
BLACK BLOOD
BLACK VOICE
IMPUNITY IS THE DAUGHTER OF OBLIVION
THE GEARS
FORBIDDEN TO BE INEFFICIENT
MENGELE
GOD
LOVE ME DO
PHOTOGRAPH: THE FLAG OF VICTORY
PHOTOGRAPH: MAP OF THE WORLD
PHOTOGRAPH: ANOTHER FLAG OF VICTORY
FATHER AND MOTHER OF PENICILLIN
RESURRECTION OF VIVALDI
PHOTOGRAPH: A MUSHROOM BIG AS THE SKY
THE OTHER MUSHROOM
FATHER OF THE BOMB
PHOTOGRAPH: SADDEST EYES IN THE WORLD
HOLLYWOOD HEROES THEY WERE NOT
TSARS
ONE WAR DIES, OTHERS ARE BORN
HO
IT WAS NO GIFT
OBJECTIVE NEWS
SALT OF THE EARTH
EDUCATION IN FRANCO’S DAY
JUSTICE IN FRANCO’S DAY
DORIA
FAMILY PORTRAIT IN JORDAN
PHOOLAN
MAP OF THE COLD WAR
FATHER OF THE COMPUTER
MOTHER AND FATHER OF CIVIL RIGHTS
SOCCER CIVIL RIGHTS
MARACANÃ
PELÉ
MARADONA
PHOTOGRAPH: THE SCORPION
BRECHT
A HUNDRED FLOWERS AND ONLY ONE GARDENER
RED EMPEROR
YELLOW EMPEROR
FORBIDDEN TO BE INDEPENDENT
RESURRECTION OF LUMUMBA
MAU MAU
EUROPE’S LEGACY
SANKARA
ORIGIN OF CUBA
I CAN SO
PHOTOGRAPH: THE WORLD’S MOST POPULATED EYES
COMEBACK KID
FIDEL
PHOTOGRAPH: FISTS HELD HIGH
ALI
THE GARDENER
THE NINTH
WALLS
PHOTOGRAPH: THE WALL FALLS
DIVINE LIGHT,MURDEROUS LIGHT
CRIME PAYS
ANOTHER CASE OF AMNESIA
PHOTOGRAPH: THIS BULLET DOES NOT LIE
A KISS OPENED THE DOORS TO HELL
FAMILY PORTRAIT IN ARGENTINA
THE AGES OF ANA
THE NAME MOST TOUCHED
THE BISHOP WHO DIED TWICE
GLOBAL TAXES
THEY ARE NOT NEWS
CRIMINOLOGY
LIVE AND DIRECT
DIRECT AND LIVE
DANGER IN PRISON
DANGER IN THE STREET
DANGER IN THE ANDES
DANGER ON AIR
BARBIE GOES TO WAR
ROBOCOP’S CHILDREN GO TO WAR
CAMOUFLAGED WARS
A WOMAN ON THE BANKS OF A RIVER
LIED-ABOUT WARS
ORIGIN OF THE EMBRACE
LYING WARS
VORACIOUS WARS
WORLD-KILLING WARS
THE GIANT AT TULE
ORIGIN OF ROAD RAGE
RIDDLE
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION
BHOPAL
ANIMAL MEDIA
ARNO
GANGES
THE RIVER AND THE FISH
THE RIVER AND THE DEER
THE HANDS OF THE TRAIN
DANGER IN THE JUNGLE
DANGER AT THE TAP
DANGER ON THE LAND
DANGER IN THE SKY
DANGER IN THE CLOUDS
INVENTORY OF THE WORLD
THE ROAD GOES ON
DANGER IN THE NIGHT
LOST AND FOUND
INDEX OF NAMES
Copyright Page
No footnotes, no bibliographic sources are included.
I realized in time that they would have taken up more pages than the nearly six hundred stories themselves.
Neither have I listed the many collaborators whose assistance allowed
Mirrors
to become more than just a raving notion. I cannot, however, fail to mention several who had the patience to read the final manuscript and who saved me from more than a few embarrassments: Tim Chapman, Antonio Doñate, Karl Hübener, Carlos Machado, Pilar Royo, and Raquel Villagra. This book is dedicated to them and to the innumerable friends who made this impossible task possible.
Y para Helena, muy.
Montevideo, the final days of 2007
Father, paint me the earth on my body.
—Sioux chant from South Dakota
Mirrors are filled with people.
The invisible see us.
The forgotten recall us.
When we see ourselves, we see them.
When we turn away, do they?
BORN OF DESIRE
Life was alone, no name, no memory. It had hands, but no one to touch. It had a tongue, but no one to talk to. Life was one, and one was none.
Then desire drew his bow. The arrow of desire split life down the middle, and life was two.
When they caught sight of each other, they laughed. When they touched each other, they laughed again.
A FEAST ON FOOT
Adam and Eve were black?
The human adventure in the world began in Africa. From there, our ancestors set out to conquer the planet. Many paths led them to many destinies, and the sun took care of handing out colors from the palette.
Now the rainbow of the earth is more colorful than the rainbow of the sky. But we are all emigrants from Africa. Even the whitest of whites comes from Africa.
Maybe we refuse to acknowledge our common origins because racism causes amnesia, or because we find it unbelievable that in those days long past the entire world was our kingdom, an immense map without borders, and our legs were the only passport required.
THE TROUBLEMAKER
Separate were heaven and earth, good and bad, birth and death. Day and night never mixed. Woman was woman and man was man.
But Exû, the errant bandit of Africa, liked to entertain himself by provoking outlawed minglings. And he is still at it.
