Ethics
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You have Started to Smell like Ketchup
Your ketchup is leaving a bad smell in your pantry. When was the last time you poured ketchup on your food? Was it with Thai takeout or French fries? I bet it was the second. You pulled out a bag of McCain’s frozen fries, tossed them in the microwave, squeezed ketchup on top, and started…
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Frozen Pizza Thoughts
My mother flew back to Guadalajara yesterday with my brother (who returned to Boston after) and a nurse. She’s getting worse, and I feel that being alone now—with only paid caregivers, while her three sons live scattered across North America—will not benefit her at all. My house feels wrong without her—too quiet, too clean, too…
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Your Thoughts are like Shoelaces
Editor’s Note: This piece continues my encounters with Jorge — a chemical engineer by trade, yet a priest by chance.
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The Missing Record
It’s curious how our minds work — how some desires are repressed, curtailed by social convention, or what we might call social suppression. But before we dig deeper into that, let me tell you a story. Our story begins in the early 1980s with Heidi Berg, a young singer navigating New York’s folk scene. She…
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Remaining Seated, I Stood Up. Reflections on Authority, Censorship, and the Rules We Follow
Sometimes I think about the absurdity of customs. We follow them like lambs—not because they make sense, but because someone once told us to. Why sit at the back when the front is empty? Why turkey every Thanksgiving when I don’t even like it? Why drag a tree indoors every December and cover it with…
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My Dad was a Monster and I loved him deeply.
On Christmas Day 2024, my father passed away at the age of 85. He was, in the truest sense of the word, a monster—but not the kind that lurks in shadows with fangs and claws. He was the kind only a father can be: imposing, untouchable, a presence that overshadowed everything around him. And I…
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Unintentionally Censored: The Artist’s Struggle with Instagram’s AI
Over the past month, I’ve embarked on a seemingly Sisyphean task: scrubbing my Instagram account clean of any posts that the platform deems non-compliant with its vaguely articulated guidelines on sexually explicit material or something along those lines; I can barely remember what they call it anymore. Each day, without fail, Instagram flags around five…
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Nude of the Green Room (Homage to Bacon)
Crafting a statement for a painting can be a daunting task. What do I wish to convey? How best to articulate it? Will it resonate with viewers? These questions swirled in my mind as I embarked on this artistic endeavor. Recently, I had the privilege of showcasing my work at an Art Show of Miniatures…
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Instagram and the Holy Inquisition Algorithm
Instagram, the arbiter of digital decency, embarked on a censorship tango with my artistic pursuits – a saga that unfolded not once, but twice. The stage was set in the unassuming realm of a Canadian Erotica Themed Art Show: “A Hot Minute” a three ring erotic art show with venues in Victoria BC, North Vancouver…
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It’s Art, not Pornography.
I was invited to a Erotica themed Art Show in Western Canada, I was very excited, it’s a show that will be held in three different venues at Victoria BC, North Vancouver BC and Calgary AB it’s called A Hot Minute.I was so excited that I tried to post some of my artworks for the…
Carlos Fentanes 