On Christmas: Darkest Night of the Year Darkest Night of the Year. It’s the title of Over the Rhine’s Christmas album, but the words themselves seem to be the mantra to which I walk as I pass in and out of brothel doors. Every time I enter these places, I have let my eyes adjust to the dim red glow of the interior; I have tried to block out the mixed smell of alcohol, sex and urine; I ...
As I looked into the faces of so many women tonight, I couldn’t help but recall the faces of another group of women. Women who once frequented the brothels, looking to survive, to support their children, to escape their current reality, cursing the circumstances that had contributed to their entrapment, believing they were worth nothing, yet hoping against hope for a way out of this hell. They ...
El Alto, La Paz Department, Bolivia