ABOUT FURMAN 217

Furman 217 is the result of a collaboration and dialogue between a diverse group of cultural creators. The project originates in Nashville and continues in the El Paso/Juárez/Las Cruces region but it gathers voices from multiple countries and languages. The magazine’s goal is to open a space for expression in which inclusion is the indispensable criteria and, also, to call on all of those creators that leave their works to die in a hidden drawer. Within the concept of “cultural creation” we include photos, poetry, stories, drawings, interviews, reports, chronicles, literary criticism, and others. For now, the idea is to use this platform to express ourselves in Portuguese and Spanish, without excluding other languages.

The materials gathered here do not, in any way, respond to a purely aesthetic judgement, nor do they aim for uniformity. These texts were written by native speakers, students learning other languages or simply people interested in expressing themselves and practicing writing. The magazine does not aspire, therefore, to become a specific type of magazine with absolute formal perfection. For us, the poliphony of voices and perspectives is a lot more interesting and authentic as it promotes dialgoue in times of much monologue. In this process, we discovered that we have a lot more in common although insisting on our differences is a populare practice. Perhaps we cannot replace each border with a bridge, but with this bridge we have brought several islands a bit closer.