Inspired by Kafka's short story "Investigations of a Dog"

benpopelillustration.blogspot.com

just sayin... 

read at harper's archive

(or pick it off the shelf--dec. 2010 edition)

[this was a post I did for emmy back at the beginning of the month.... I'm happily recycling it. la-di-da!]


some weekend reading:

La Petite Zine - I came across this little gem, an online journal of what you call "flash fiction." I haven't done a lot of browsing in past issues, but I really enjoyed this piece by David Shumate:

                                                                   The Races of Man

We learned in elementary school that there were five races of man. 

White. Black. Red. Yellow. And, as I recall, brown. We drew pictures 

of them with their variously colored faces next to buildings we thought 

might be their homes. I gave them lawn mowers and automobiles and 

umbrellas. Though my teacher told me some only had huts where they 

burned the dried feces of goats and cows to stay warm. There were also 

those who carried their belongings around on camels and pitched tents in 

the sand which seemed like an exciting life to me. We learned how some 

of these people said Hello so if we came upon a caravan crossing the 

street, we could be polite. We were introduced to their gods. Some were 

angry all the time. Others had four arms and three heads and blue skin. 

The kind of deity I wanted watching over me. With each lesson our world 

became more complex. We were tested on Fridays. Once our teacher held 

up a can of chop suey and asked what color of people would be likely to 

eat it. I wrote down white people. Because my mother served it for dinner 

on Tuesdays. I later learned that the correct answer was actually Yellow.

so far I've found this recent issue of La Petite Zine to be filled with some off-kilter poetry, a mess of non-sequitors, and a laundry list of... lists. If anything, it makes for quick adventurous weekend reading. Enjoy! 

another excuse to not commit suicide

The Hunter Gracchus 

by Franz Kafka

This reminded me that your misery follows you....

THE DAY THE 50s BECAME THE 60s

This story is hilarious and horrifying. Starts out with fun and 

games... aka gettin 'lotsa tit and ends with a demand to take notice 

of the current situations around you. While it is primarily 

about civil rights, I think there are numerous ways 

in which this story can be read. 

Take a minute:
The Day the Fifties Became the Sixties-John Kenny Crane