{"id":32575,"date":"2012-06-01T16:09:56","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T20:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=32575"},"modified":"2012-06-03T19:05:24","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T23:05:24","slug":"francisco-goldman-mexico-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City"},"content":{"rendered":"

A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and bookshelves, a wide window overlooking a park in Colonia Roma to the right and, on my left, the narrow side window drawn by Matteo. I\u2019m sharing the apartment with my friend Jon Lee, who is almost always traveling, but he needed a Latin American base for his work. We only moved in a month ago. It\u2019s the biggest apartment I\u2019ve ever lived in. The living room is so immense that I bought a football (not a futbol<\/em>) just to prove you can play catch in it, and now I am looking for a wiffleball batting machine, which I think would be a great way to manage the persistent physical restlessness that often makes it so hard for me to sit still at a desk. In the mornings I go down to a caf\u00e9 facing the park for breakfast. They have terrific coffee. I usually have the waitress tell me about the chilaquiles<\/em>, the enfrijoladas<\/em>, molletes<\/em>, and omelettes just so that I can savor her descriptions, and then I order the fruit and granola, and she makes fun of me for that. I work in the caf\u00e9 for two or three hours and then go back to the desk in my apartment. Apart from a break for lunch, I try to work until seven in the evening, and then usually head to the gym. We\u2019re right around the corner from one of Mexico City\u2019s greatest cantinas<\/em>, one I\u2019d been coming to for years from more distant neighborhoods. They have a funny ritual there. A waiter will ring a bell to catch everyone\u2019s attention, shout out a name, and then the cavernous room will resound with raucous shouts of \u00a1Pendejo!<\/em> (it means, more or less, \u201casshole!\u201d). You have to pay the waiter to do that. Once a good friend, a writer from Ireland, was visiting, and he paid the waiter to shout out the name of another Irish writer who\u2019d given him a nasty review, and the waiter, though he could barely pronounce the name, shouted it out, and everyone in the cantina<\/em>, the old men playing dominoes, the Mexican and foreign hipsters, and literary types who also hang out there, et cetera, joyously shouted \u201c\u00a1Pendejo<\/em>!\u201d \u2014Francisco Goldman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and bookshelves, a wide window overlooking a park in Colonia Roma to the right and, on my left, the narrow side window drawn by Matteo. I\u2019m sharing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5554],"tags":[2228,3286,2229,7718,7720],"class_list":["post-32575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-on-the-world","tag-francisco-goldman","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-city","tag-views","tag-windowd-on-the-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrancisco Goldman, Mexico City by Matteo Pericoli<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 1, 2012 \u2013 A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City by Matteo Pericoli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 1, 2012 \u2013 A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-01T20:09:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-03T23:05:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"507\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matteo Pericoli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matteo Pericoli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matteo Pericoli\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/143baf32951c78ffdc9b62e4a613ad9d\"},\"headline\":\"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-01T20:09:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-03T23:05:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\"},\"wordCount\":407,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Francisco Goldman\",\"Mexico\",\"Mexico City\",\"views\",\"Windowd on the World\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Windows on the World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\",\"name\":\"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City by Matteo Pericoli\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-01T20:09:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-03T23:05:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"June 1, 2012 \u2013 A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/143baf32951c78ffdc9b62e4a613ad9d\",\"name\":\"Matteo Pericoli\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d37eb4651b8c5863fbb87d224b27cf645127091b6f1bea3d1e17ee63287c195?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d37eb4651b8c5863fbb87d224b27cf645127091b6f1bea3d1e17ee63287c195?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matteo Pericoli\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/matteo-pericoli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City by Matteo Pericoli","description":"June 1, 2012 \u2013 A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City by Matteo Pericoli","og_description":"June 1, 2012 \u2013 A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2012-06-01T20:09:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-06-03T23:05:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":507,"height":1100,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matteo Pericoli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matteo Pericoli","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/"},"author":{"name":"Matteo Pericoli","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/143baf32951c78ffdc9b62e4a613ad9d"},"headline":"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City","datePublished":"2012-06-01T20:09:56+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-03T23:05:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/"},"wordCount":407,"commentCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg","keywords":["Francisco Goldman","Mexico","Mexico City","views","Windowd on the World"],"articleSection":["Windows on the World"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/","name":"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City by Matteo Pericoli","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-01T20:09:56+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-03T23:05:24+00:00","description":"June 1, 2012 \u2013 A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows. My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Francisco_Goldman.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/01\/francisco-goldman-mexico-city\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Francisco Goldman, Mexico City"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/143baf32951c78ffdc9b62e4a613ad9d","name":"Matteo Pericoli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d37eb4651b8c5863fbb87d224b27cf645127091b6f1bea3d1e17ee63287c195?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d37eb4651b8c5863fbb87d224b27cf645127091b6f1bea3d1e17ee63287c195?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Matteo Pericoli"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/matteo-pericoli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32575"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32602,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32575\/revisions\/32602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}