La Cuadra Quarterly, January - March 2015: Written by Monkeys, Published by Fools (La Cuadra Magazine Book 11)

5/5 ( ratings)

La Cuadra Quarterly is a compendium of writing that does not suck. There is beautifully crafted satire. There is insightful political analysis. There is sublimely rendered art criticism. There are personal essays and creative non-fiction that will shake your soul and make you feel born anew. There are occasionally dick jokes. There is much of great value in La Cuadra Quarterly, a projected started by Michael Tallon and John Rexer eight years ago, after sharing a bottle of mezcal late one night in Antigua, Guatemala and before the following morning’s hangover kicked it. In all the time since, we’ve been running strong. Every issue is fresh. Every issue is challenging. Every issue is funny as hell. Moreover, you have our word, no matter what is written in La Cuadra Quarterly, it WILL NOT SUCK. Promise.

In this issue the Surly Bartender returns with what he calls his 400-Year Hope, a well-reasoned argument about why the dangerously religious fools of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries will fade to invisibility in our culture over the coming years. In this issue we also begin an investigation into the real damage done in the name of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. This story will be the first in a series by Jeff Abbot, and for those trying to wrap their heads around the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement currently finding bipartisan support in Washington, we offer Jeff's work as a template for understanding the reality that underlies the rhetoric of such grand, sweeping public policies.

We also welcome three new writers to the fold with this edition. Lois Denberg recalls an utterly bizarre story that involves meeting Tiny Tim in Joe Franklin's comically overrun office in Time's Square back in the day. Neil Carden, a writer's writer if ever there was one, joined the La Cuadra circus with an old tale of ghosts, his grandmother, love and floating coffins that we'd bet our bottom dollar you'll find among the best you've ever read. Finally, Annie Vanderboom, a rising talent shares her experiences of fighting to find words for grief that just won't rise to the surface when you're a stranger in a strange land.

We're also featuring some of our heavy hitters. Adam Wilcox takes his readers on an afternoon walk through the park that finds them returning home both lost and found. Bill McGowan reaches through the collective unconscious by way of books that seem to come and go in our lives by a process of otherwise unexplainable synchronicity.

On hard news, James R. Tallon, Jr., takes his faithful readers the next steps along the road for both ObamaCare and what that means for democracy, writ large, in the United States. On incisive analysis, Matthew Grimm lays bare the crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated in Uganda against homosexuals at the bidding and guidance of American Evangelical Christians.

Finally, so as not to make the whole mishegas dark and scary, there's the best told Talking Dog joke you've ever heard and the Adventures of Pissy Jesus to leave you busting a gut and looking for more. Which there will be in just a few short months!

Until then, enjoy!
Mike and John de la Cuadra.