Ebook: ΧΩΡΟΕ (xoros): Exploring a Time and Place in Greece

I want to resist portraying this as a coming-of-age story, but it definitely is. A story of irony and naivety coming up against the cold and boring—and later thrilling and confusing—immersion into "the real world" and what a fantastic and terrifying place it is.

By the beer shop, a couple anarchists sit, dressed in all black, asking, "why did they have to come to our neighborhood?". There is political talk, talk of sex, and too many cigarettes, and of homes, lots of talk of homes. The square is home to some of the people, others came here for jobs that didn't exist or to escape bombs, and found refuge in the bomb center. Exarchia is a bomb in the middle of Athens. Not only are there plenty of molotovs hurtling through the nights, but the area is gunpowder. Radical ideas, stories, connections, safe houses, and a 'fuck you' attitude combine with a complete disillusionment with the government and economic warfare being enacted plainly, a spit in the face, have made Exarchia fertile.

Poetry, reminiscences, thoughts, from time spent in Exarchia. If you've been, here's a reminder of what it is like. If you haven't been, here's a taste. Personal, touching, insurrectionary.