Welcome
Welcome to my website. Whether personal, political or academic, my words address a broken world.
Since I was a child, I have written to create meaning from the chaos that surrounded me.
Later, as a journalist, I told other people’s stories, often to advance justice for those mistreated by those in power.
When I became an academic, I wrote articles and taught classes that explored similar themes.
My letters to the editor advocate for justice.
Several years ago, short bursts of disturbing childhood memories demanded to be released as vignettes that later became my memoir, First You Grieve.
I invite you along on my lifelong journey.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s Dilemma
by Barbara Chiarello
April 16, 2026
Since Greg Abbott reacted so quickly to allegations of sexual misconduct against Cesar Chavez, he should preemptively declare that Texas will never declare a holiday, build a statue, or name a single street, highway or airport in honor of Donald Trump. Let us commend Abbott for believing Dolores Huerta and other women who came forward […]
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Blatantly illegal’
by Barbara Chiarello
October 17, 2025
I’m confused. During his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump said Mexico was sending us murderers, rapists and drug dealers. To keep them out, he promised to build a wall that Mexico would pay for. Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star on March 6, 2021, to “combat the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas.” […]
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Texas-Sized Hypocrisy
by Barbara Chiarello
December 2, 2024
If they gave an Academy Award for Best Religious Imposter, Greg Abbott would surely run away with the prize Though the Sermon on the Mount blesses the merciful, Texas’ Republican governor continues to treat migrants harshly. “Tiffany Burrow, who directs operations at a nonprofit in Del Rio, said state officials purposely made it hard for […]
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Hello. I’m Dr. Barbara Chiarello.
I graduated from Brooklyn College and earned my Ph.D. in English literature at The University of Texas at Arlington. I have published in newspapers and magazines as a journalist, authored several academic articles as a UT Arlington graduate student and English professor, and published in Huston-Tillotson University’s literary journal, 900 Chicon; The University of Texas at Arlington’s Stimulus: A Medical Humanities Journal; in The Galitzianer: The Journal of Gesher Galicia and Toasted Cheese.
Over the past decade my letters to the editor have appeared in The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Austin Chronicle and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Austin American-Statesman.
Let’s Connect.
If you would like to get in touch with me, please fill out this form and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Email: Hello@BarbaraChiarello.com