Marshall Mallicoathttps://marshallmallicoat.com/2021-03-11T00:00:00-06:00Found Poetry2020-03-13T00:00:00-05:002020-06-17T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2020-03-13:/found-poetry.html<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title"><strong>Contents</strong></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#fiberoptic-haiku" id="id2">Fiberoptic Haiku</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#a-stylized-bird-with-an-open-mouth-tweeting" id="id3">A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="fiberoptic-haiku">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">Fiberoptic Haiku</a></h2>
<p>The admonition on the tag of this fiberoptic cord is broken into three little
lines like a haiku.</p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="a fiberoptic cord with a tag attached" src="./media/cord-haiku.jpg" />
</div>
<p>The text reads:</p>
<div class="line-block">
<div class="line">Insert securely lest</div>
<div class="line">should be detached</div>
<div class="line">in set</div>
</div>
<p>The suspension after <em>lest</em> in the first line …</p></div><div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title"><strong>Contents</strong></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#fiberoptic-haiku" id="id2">Fiberoptic Haiku</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#a-stylized-bird-with-an-open-mouth-tweeting" id="id3">A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="fiberoptic-haiku">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">Fiberoptic Haiku</a></h2>
<p>The admonition on the tag of this fiberoptic cord is broken into three little
lines like a haiku.</p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="a fiberoptic cord with a tag attached" src="./media/cord-haiku.jpg" />
</div>
<p>The text reads:</p>
<div class="line-block">
<div class="line">Insert securely lest</div>
<div class="line">should be detached</div>
<div class="line">in set</div>
</div>
<p>The suspension after <em>lest</em> in the first line is quite good, as well as the
anticlimax of the last line.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="a-stylized-bird-with-an-open-mouth-tweeting">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting</a></h2>
<p>While reading a news article <a class="footnote-reference" href="#article" id="id1">[1]</a> with the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W3m">w3m</a> text-based Web browser,
I noticed some strange sentences interspersed in the markup gore you typically
see when reading the Web without JavaScript.</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
The UK government warns Trump that war with Iran 'is in none of our interests'
Adam Bienkov
2020-01-03T10:33:25Z
The letter F. An envelope. It indicates the ability to send an email. An
image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url. A stylized bird
with an open mouth, tweeting. The word "in". A stylized letter F.
Three evenly spaced dots forming an ellipsis: "...". Two crossed lines that
form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a
notification.
Donald Trump Boris Johnson Donald Trump Boris Johnson [5e0f163885]
Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. Getty
</pre>
<p>The parts that stuck out to me were:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>The letter F.</li>
<li>An envelope. It indicates the ability to send an email.</li>
<li>An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url.</li>
</ul>
<p>And so on. What are these things anyway? Looking at the source of the page,
I saw it has a bunch of icons which are also hyperlinks. The icon class
contains a non-standard HTML tag <tt class="docutils literal"><desc></tt> which contains a description
of the icon (perhaps in a gesture of accessibility toward people with vision
impairment). The icon block looks something like this:</p>
<pre class="code html literal-block">
<span class="p"><</span><span class="nt">a</span> <span class="na">href</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s">"https://www.facebook.com"</span><span class="p">></span>
<span class="p"><</span><span class="nt">svg</span> <span class="na">class</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s">"svg-icon facebook-icon"</span><span class="p">></span>
<span class="p"><</span><span class="nt">title</span> <span class="na">id</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s">"title"</span><span class="p">></span>Facebook Icon<span class="p"></</span><span class="nt">title</span><span class="p">></span>
<span class="p"><</span><span class="nt">desc</span> <span class="na">id</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s">"desc"</span><span class="p">></span>The letter F.<span class="p"></</span><span class="nt">desc</span><span class="p">></span>
<span class="p"></</span><span class="nt">svg</span><span class="p">></span>
<span class="p"></</span><span class="nt">a</span><span class="p">></span>
</pre>
<p>The body of the <tt class="docutils literal"><desc></tt> element gets dumped into the visible text in the w3m
browser. I wrote a little Python script to extract these descriptions.</p>
<pre class="code python literal-block">
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">re</span>
<span class="k">with</span> <span class="nb">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'news_article.html'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'r'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">article</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">read</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">snippets</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">re</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">findall</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">r</span><span class="s1">'<desc id="desc">(.*)<\/desc>'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">article</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">with</span> <span class="nb">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'snippets.txt'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'w'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s1">'</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">join</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">snippets</span><span class="p">))</span>
</pre>
<p>Finally, here are all these snippets standing alone, with the article
and other junk stripped out. Read together, they have some majesty.</p>
<div class="line-block">
<div class="line">A vertical stack of three evenly spaced horizontal lines.</div>
<div class="line">A magnifying glass. It indicates, "Click to perform a search".</div>
<div class="line">The words "Business Insider".</div>
<div class="line">An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.</div>
<div class="line">An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.</div>
<div class="line">The word Business</div>
<div class="line">The word Life</div>
<div class="line">The word News</div>
<div class="line">A magnifying glass. It indicates, "Click to perform a search".</div>
<div class="line">The word "Insider".</div>
<div class="line">Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.</div>
<div class="line">The word Business</div>
<div class="line">The word Life</div>
<div class="line">The word News</div>
<div class="line">The word All</div>
<div class="line">An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.</div>
<div class="line">An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.</div>
<div class="line">An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options."</div>
<div class="line">The letter F.</div>
<div class="line">A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting.</div>
<div class="line">The word "in".</div>
<div class="line">A play button in the shape of a television screen.</div>
<div class="line">A stylized camera.</div>
<div class="line">The letter F.</div>
<div class="line">An envelope. It indicates the ability to send an email.</div>
<div class="line">An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url.</div>
<div class="line">A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting.</div>
<div class="line">The word "in".</div>
<div class="line">A stylized letter F.</div>
<div class="line">Three evenly spaced dots forming an ellipsis: "...".</div>
<div class="line">Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.</div>
<div class="line">A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction.</div>
</div>
<hr class="docutils" />
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="article" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td>Bienkov, Adam. "The UK government warns Trump that war with Iran 'is in none of our interests'."
<em>Business Insider</em>, 3 Jan. 2020,
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-warns-donald-trump-against-launching-war-iran-qassem-soleimani-2020-1">https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-warns-donald-trump-against-launching-war-iran-qassem-soleimani-2020-1</a>.
Accessed 13 March 2020.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex2020-02-24T00:00:00-06:002020-02-24T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2020-02-24:/baader-meinhof.html<p>Here are some stills from the 2008 film <em>Der Baader Meinhof Komplex</em>,
directed by Uli Edel.
It is a historical drama about the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction">Red Army Faction</a> (RAF).</p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Ho Chi Min.png" />
<p class="caption">Rudi Dutschke leads a crowd in chanting "Ho Chi Min"</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/I am dead, let me live.png" />
<p class="caption">Rudi Dutschke after being shot by a would-be assassin</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Father, mother.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Soldier, soldier.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Dresden.png" />
<p class="caption">Protest at the offices …</p></div><p>Here are some stills from the 2008 film <em>Der Baader Meinhof Komplex</em>,
directed by Uli Edel.
It is a historical drama about the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction">Red Army Faction</a> (RAF).</p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Ho Chi Min.png" />
<p class="caption">Rudi Dutschke leads a crowd in chanting "Ho Chi Min"</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/I am dead, let me live.png" />
<p class="caption">Rudi Dutschke after being shot by a would-be assassin</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Father, mother.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Soldier, soldier.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Dresden.png" />
<p class="caption">Protest at the offices of Der Spiegel</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Hiroshima.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Vietnam.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/I will never resign myself to nothing.png" />
<p class="caption">Gudrun Ensslin interviewed in prison by Ulrike Meinhof</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/that is only consistent.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Cures the rigidity 1.png" />
<p class="caption">Andreas Baader on a joyride</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Cures the rigidity 2.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/New morality.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Draw a line between us and our enemies.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/The gun makes its statement.png" />
<p class="caption">Klaus Rainer Röhl reads a communiqué written by the RAF</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Urban guerillas.png" />
<p class="caption">The RAF trains with the PLO</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Revolution made 2.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/I shit on the policy.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Emancipation pt 1.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Emancipation pt 2.png" />
<p class="caption">Gudrun Ensslin rebukes Andreas Baader</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Slander pt 1.png" />
<p class="caption">Gudrun Ensslin quotes Mao Tse-tung</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Slander pt 2.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Slander pt 3.png" />
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/Ulrike.png" />
<p class="caption">Arrest of Ulrike Meinhof</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/It's murder.png" />
<p class="caption">Holger Meins on hunger strike</p>
</div>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="" src="./media/baader-meinhof/What a shitty action.png" />
<p class="caption">Andreas Baader decries the RAF siege of the West German Embassy in Stockholm</p>
</div>
Dream on March 6th, 20142019-10-12T00:00:00-05:002019-10-12T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2019-10-12:/dream.html<audio controls>
<source src="media/Dream 128kbps.mp3" type="audio/mp3">
A HTML5 audio player should appear here.
</audio>My Surname2019-10-12T00:00:00-05:002019-10-12T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2019-10-12:/surname.html<p>My surname is <em>Mallicoat</em>, pronounced like the first two syllables of
<em>malady</em> followed by the ordinary word <em>coat</em>.</p>
<p>The <em>Dictionary of American Family Names</em> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#dafm" id="id1">[1]</a> has these two
relevant entries:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Malicoat (250) English: unexplained. Compare MALLICOAT.</p>
<p>Mallicoat (240) English: unexplained. Compare MALICOAT.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is an uncommon name. The numbers given …</p><p>My surname is <em>Mallicoat</em>, pronounced like the first two syllables of
<em>malady</em> followed by the ordinary word <em>coat</em>.</p>
<p>The <em>Dictionary of American Family Names</em> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#dafm" id="id1">[1]</a> has these two
relevant entries:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Malicoat (250) English: unexplained. Compare MALLICOAT.</p>
<p>Mallicoat (240) English: unexplained. Compare MALICOAT.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is an uncommon name. The numbers given (250 and 240) are the
frequency of the surname in the "sample of 88.7 million listings in the
[Dictionary of American Family Names] database." For comparison, the
frequency of <em>Newman</em> is 39,339.</p>
<p>Oldtimers in my family have done some genealogical work, concluding
(per my father) that <em>Mallicoat</em> is a "habitational name from a place
so named in Devon county, England." The supposed place is the village
of <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullacott">Mullacott</a>, near Ilfracombe. The village appears in the <a class="reference external" href="https://opendomesday.org/place/SS5145/mullacott/">Domesday
Book</a> of 1086 as <em>Molecote</em>.</p>
<p>All of the American Mallicoats are apprently descended from one John Mallicote,
who was born ca. 1616–1660 in England and died ca. 1657–1740 in the Colony of
Virginia.</p>
<p>A Jamaican cable man, when installing a modem at my apartment long ago,
told me that there are Mallicoats in Jamaica, too.</p>
<div class="section" id="some-notable-mallicoats">
<h2>Some notable Mallicoats</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.wickenburgsun.com/obituaries/article_3a429033-c481-5978-8c9f-dffc140aa6e0.html">Helen Mallicoat</a> (1913–2004): author of <em>Listen for the Lord</em> (Hallmark Cards, 1977) and the poem <a class="reference external" href="https://bible.org/node/13685">I AM</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Mallicoat">Rob Mallicoat</a> (1964–): left-handed former pitcher of the Houston Astros</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Tom_Mallicoat/87665">Tom Mallicoat</a> (1965–): lead singer of the heavy metal band <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_(American_band)">Lethal</a></li>
</ul>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="dafm" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td>Ed. by Patrick Hanks. Oxford University Press, 2003.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- Helen Mallicoat obituary published in the Wickenberg Sun, 22 Dec. 2004 -->
<!-- See also: https://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/guide/intro.shtml#surnames -->
</div>
Indigenous Land2019-08-24T00:00:00-05:002019-11-16T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2019-08-24:/land.html<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title"><strong>Contents</strong></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#introduction" id="id15">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#unceded-territory" id="id16">Unceded Territory</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#land-acknowledgement" id="id17">Land Acknowledgement</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#chicago-cultural-center" id="id18">Chicago Cultural Center</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#university-of-illinois" id="id19">University of Illinois</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#canadian-association-of-university-teachers" id="id20">Canadian Association of University Teachers</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#maps-and-treaties" id="id21">Maps and Treaties</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#canada" id="id22">Canada</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#united-states" id="id23">United States</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="introduction">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15">Introduction</a></h2>
<p>Sometime in 2018, I came across the website of game designer <a class="reference external" href="https://averyalder.com/">Avery Alder</a>.
I noticed that she described where she lived as "in the Slocan Valley …</p></div><div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title"><strong>Contents</strong></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#introduction" id="id15">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#unceded-territory" id="id16">Unceded Territory</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#land-acknowledgement" id="id17">Land Acknowledgement</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#chicago-cultural-center" id="id18">Chicago Cultural Center</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#university-of-illinois" id="id19">University of Illinois</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#canadian-association-of-university-teachers" id="id20">Canadian Association of University Teachers</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#maps-and-treaties" id="id21">Maps and Treaties</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#canada" id="id22">Canada</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#united-states" id="id23">United States</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="introduction">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15">Introduction</a></h2>
<p>Sometime in 2018, I came across the website of game designer <a class="reference external" href="https://averyalder.com/">Avery Alder</a>.
I noticed that she described where she lived as "in the Slocan Valley, in
Sinixt and Ktunaxa Territory," and not as "British Columbia, Canada."</p>
<p>She elaborates on her motivations in a series of <a class="reference external" href="https://twitter.com/lackingceremony/status/1041008025413181440">Tweets</a> (on 15
September 2018):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I frequently get cited as a 'Canadian game designer', and for the record I
am always bothered by that. I'm a designer on unceded Sinixt territory, and
previous to moving I was a designer on unceded Squamish, Musqueam, and
Tsleil-Waututh territory'</p>
<p>as a settler on unceded land, I do not want my work attributed to Canada,
nor do I want to be involved in any assertion of its primacy over this land.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was my first introduction to the concept of "unceded territory." Doing
some searches on the Web for this term introduced me to the practice of "land
acknowledgements." These are both connected to the project of decolonization,
which I now realize I know woefully little about.</p>
<p>As I learn more about this complex relationship between land and people, I want
to collect some of the resources I find and share them on this page.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="unceded-territory">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16">Unceded Territory</a></h2>
<p>In North America, colonial powers entered into numerous treaties with native
peoples to acquire land in exchange for goods and currency. In this way huge
portions of North America, via convoluted "chains of title," came to be claimed
by what are now Canada and the United States. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#na" id="id1">[2]</a> For much of the land in
these two states, the government can point to a particular legal document which
enacted the transfer in ownership. But for large expanses of the land, Canada
and the US do not possess even the most tenuous legal claim. This land is
considered "unceded."</p>
<p>In the United States, the most obvious tract of unceded territory is the land
around the original 13 British colonies on the Eastern seaboard. Another
notable piece is eastern Texas, which was "[s]eized by force of arms by the
Republic of Texas and the United States in the nineteenth century." <a class="footnote-reference" href="#us-map" id="id2">[3]</a></p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="Map of land cessions in the United States ca. 2014" src="./media/us-cessions.jpg" />
</div>
<p>In Canada up until 1975, most of British Columbia, Québec, Yukon, and Nunavut
were unceded territory. Since then, there have been some new treaties seeking
to fill in these gaps, such as the 1975 <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bay_and_Northern_Quebec_Agreement">James Bay and Northern Quebec
Agreement</a> and
the 1993 <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavut_Land_Claims_Agreement">Nunavut Land Claims Agreement</a>. Below is
where things stood before 1975. The white areas of the map were those not
covered by any treaty. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#ca-map" id="id3">[4]</a></p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="Map of land cessions in Canada pre-1975" src="./media/canada-cessions.png" />
</div>
<p>As of 2019, I live in Chicago, Illinois. As best I can tell, the land underneath the
city center was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795.
The counterparty to the treaty was the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Confederacy">Western Confederacy</a>, a confederacy of Native
American nations in the Great Lakes region. Among other terms, this treaty
ceded six square miles around the mouth of the Chicago River at Lake Michigan,
an important portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.</p>
<p>The shoreline with Lake Michigan has been pushed back since the Treaty of
Greenville, the lake filled in with debris from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871
and by later efforts in order to create more land. As a result, much of the
coastal land in this area is not part of any treaty. Here is a diagram from
<em>Mapping Chicagou/Chicago</em> illustrating this. The red areas show the original
waterways. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#mapping" id="id4">[1]</a></p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="Chicago shoreline with Lake Michigan over time" src="./media/shoreline-unceded-land.png" />
</div>
<p>Because this "new" land was never covered by any treaty, the authors
characterize it as unceded. Below is a photo of an installation piece at the
Chicago Cultural Center's 2019 Architecture Biennial (also taken from <em>Mapping
Chicagou/Chicago</em>). These windows face east over Michigan Avenue, a street
which originally ran along the lake shore.</p>
<div class="figure align-center">
<img alt="Eastern view from Chicago Cultural Center" src="./media/window-unceded-land.png" />
</div>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="mapping" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id4">[1]</a></td><td><em>Mapping Chicagou/Chicago: A Living Atlas.</em> Settler Colonial City Project, 2019.
Available <a class="reference external" href="https://settlercolonialcityproject.org/Mapping-Chicagou-Chicago">online here</a>.
ISBN 978-0-578-56262-9</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="na" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[2]</a></td><td>I have focused on Canada and the United States here. In the future I
may try to learn more about the colonial history of Meso/Central America and
the Carribean, as well as South America.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="us-map" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id2">[3]</a></td><td>This image is from the map accompanying Claudio Saunt's book <em>West of
the Revolution</em>. See <a class="reference internal" href="#united-states">United States</a> section for more information.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="ca-map" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id3">[4]</a></td><td>This map is from the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100032297/1544716489360">RCAANC / CIRNAC</a>. See <a class="reference internal" href="#canada">Canada</a> section
for more information.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="land-acknowledgement">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17">Land Acknowledgement</a></h2>
<p>A <em>land acknowledgement</em> (as it is sometimes called) is a public statement
acknowledging the original habitants of the physical space that the audience
now occupies. It acknowledges the existence and legitimacy of the original
peoples and that those gathered there are <em>guests</em>. It acknowledges the history
of colonialism and displacement of indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>They are usually made at public events—like lectures, arts performances, sports
matches—and by public institutions that occupy space such as schools and
universities.</p>
<p>When I first learned of the concept, it seemed to be a practice that had only
gained a foothold in Canada (and possibly other "progressive" former British
colonies like Australia and New Zealand) and not in my native United States.
But since I've become aware of the idea, I have stumbled on a couple land
acknowledgements here.</p>
<div class="section" id="chicago-cultural-center">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18">Chicago Cultural Center</a></h3>
<p>The Settler Colonial City Project (SCCP), <a class="footnote-reference" href="#sccp" id="id5">[5]</a> in partnership with the
American Indian Center of Chicago (AIC), <a class="footnote-reference" href="#aic" id="id6">[6]</a> were contributors to the 2019
Chicago Architecture Biennial held at the Chicago Cultural Center. The SCCP was
commissioned to attempt the insurmountable task of "decolonizing the Chicago
Cultural Center." As part of this project the AIC drafted a land
acknowledgement. The preface to the acknowledge provides some context for this
type of statement: <a class="footnote-reference" href="#decolonizing" id="id7">[7]</a></p>
<blockquote>
In recent years it has become a trend to acknowledge the traditional
homelands of the Indigenous peoples of a particular area through a land
acknowledgement. This type of activity is designed to bring more awareness and
understanding of the history of Indigenous people and their territories. But a
land acknowledgement should also be more than that; it should be a call to
rethink one's own relationship with the environment and the histories of all
peoples. [...]</blockquote>
<p>The acknowledgement itself, displayed at the entrance of the Chicago Cultural
Center, read:</p>
<blockquote>
Chicago is part of the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three
Fires: the Odawa, Ojibwe, and the Potawatomi nations. Many other tribes—such as
the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Sac, and Fox—also called this area home. Located at the
intersection of several great waterways, the land naturally became a site of
travel and healing for many tribes. Today, Chicago is still a place that calls
people from diverse backgrounds to live and gather. American Indians continue
to live in the region, and Chicago is home to the country's third-largest urban
American Indian community, which still practices its heritage and traditions,
including care for the land and waterways. Despite the numerous changes the
city has experienced, its American Indian and architecture communities both see
the importance of the land and of this place, which has always been hospitable
to many difference backgrounds and perspectives.</blockquote>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="sccp" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id5">[5]</a></td><td>The <a class="reference external" href="https://settlercolonialcityproject.org">Settler Colonial City Project</a>
is a research collective which explores cities as sites of ongoing settler colonialism and Indigenous resistance.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="aic" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id6">[6]</a></td><td>The <a class="reference external" href="https://www.aicchicago.org">American Indian Center of Chicago</a>
is cultural and community center serving Native Americans in the Chicago area.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="decolonizing" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id7">[7]</a></td><td><em>Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Center.</em> Settler Colonial City Project, 2019.
Available <a class="reference external" href="https://settlercolonialcityproject.org/Decolonizing-the-Chicago-Cultural-Center">online here</a>.
ISBN 978-0-578-56876-8</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="university-of-illinois">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19">University of Illinois</a></h3>
<p>During the 2019 season of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts,
<a class="footnote-reference" href="#krannert" id="id8">[8]</a> the programs handed out at
performances included a land acknowledgement. The text from the program of a
play I attended reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The University of Illinois System carries out its mission in its namesake
state, which includes the traditional territory of the Peoria, Kaskaskia,
Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi,
Ojibwe, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and Chickasaw Nations. These lands continue to
carry stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity.</p>
<p>As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois has a particular
responsibility to acknowledge the peoples of these lands, as well as the
histories of dispossession that have allowed for the growth of this institution
for the past 150 years. We are also obligated to reflect on and actively
address these histories and the role that this university has played in shaping
them. This acknowledgement and the centering of Native peoples is a start ass
we move forward for the next 150 years.</p>
<p>Krannert Center affirms the commitment by the university to move beyond these
statements, toward building deeper relationships and taking actions that uphold
and preserve Indigenous rights and cultural equity.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some context for the University's acknowledgement is provided on <a class="reference external" href="https://www.uillinois.edu/about/land_acknowledgement">its website</a>. The text of the
acknowledgement itself is also published on the <a class="reference external" href="https://chancellor.illinois.edu/land_acknowledgement.html">website for the Office of the
Chancellor</a>.</p>
<!-- How to cite this performance program? -->
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="krannert" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id8">[8]</a></td><td>Krannert Center is located on the campus of the University of
Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. It is owned and administered by the University.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="canadian-association-of-university-teachers">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20">Canadian Association of University Teachers</a></h3>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://www.caut.ca/">Canadian Association of University Teachers</a>
(CAUT) has a published a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.caut.ca/content/guide-acknowledging-first-peoples-traditional-territory">guide</a>
on land acknowledgements for Canadian universities along with recommended text.</p>
<p>The acknowledgement for the University of Toronto (provided by the University
itself) reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1/ We [I] would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather
is the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee,
Métis, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation.</p>
<p>2/ I (we) wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto
operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the
Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit
River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people
from across Turtle Island <a class="footnote-reference" href="#turtle" id="id9">[9]</a> and we are grateful to have the
opportunity to work on this land.</p>
</blockquote>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="turtle" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id9">[9]</a></td><td><em>Turtle Island</em> is a name for the North American continent originally drawn
from Lenape folklore, per <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_Island_(North_America)">Wikipedia</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="maps-and-treaties">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21">Maps and Treaties</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="canada">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22">Canada</a></h3>
<p>The Relations Couronne-Autochtones et Affaires du Nord Canada (RCAANC) /
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) department of
the Canadian government has published a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100032297/1544716489360">series of maps</a> of
Canadian territory from 1871 up until 1975.</p>
<p>Native Land Digital, a Canadian non-profit group, has published an <a class="reference external" href="NativeLandDigital">interactive
map</a> showing the lands of indigenous peoples as well
as the extent of cessions under various treaties. The map covers most North
America, not Canada alone.</p>
<!-- GIS map similar to native-land.ca: https://www.whose.land/en/ -->
<!-- All: http://cegep-heritage.qc.ca/indigenizing-education/geography.php -->
<!-- The `Ontario.ca <https://www.ontario.ca/>`__ website contains a `map <https://www.ontario.ca/page/map-ontario-treaties-and-reserves>`__ of land cessions in the province of Ontario with links to the text of the treaties. -->
<!-- Library of Congress tract cession maps: https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/llssquery.html -->
<!-- More Canada maps/treaties: -->
<!-- Treaties in the province of Saskatchewan: http://www.otc.ca/pages/about_the_treaties.html -->
<!-- Manitoba: http://www.trcm.ca/treaties/treaties-in-manitoba/view-pdf-interactive-map-of-numbered-treaties-trcm-july-20-entry/ -->
<!-- Number treaties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbered_Treaties -->
<!-- British Columbia: https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100021015/1100100021021 -->
</div>
<div class="section" id="united-states">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23">United States</a></h3>
<p>To accompany Claudio Saunt's book <em>West of the Revolution</em>, <a class="footnote-reference" href="#wotr" id="id10">[10]</a> an
interactive map of land cessions to the United States was produced, hosted
online <a class="reference external" href="http://invasionofamerica.ehistory.org/">here</a>. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#ioa" id="id11">[11]</a> The map shows
the parcel of land covered in each of the cessions along with links to text of
the treaties. It also shows the boundaries of recognized Native American
territory today.</p>
<p>The information on the cessions comes from two books. First of which is the
<em>Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary
of the Smithsonian Institution</em>, produced in 1896–97. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#ar" id="id12">[12]</a> The second part of
the book contains a section "Indian Land Cessions in the United States"
compiled by Charles C. Royce. There are extensive tables containing
dates, signatories, and a brief description of the treaties between between the
United States and Native nations and confederations. It is available to read
on <a class="reference external" href="https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbu218smit">Archive.org</a>.</p>
<p>The second book is <em>Indian Affairs: Laws And Treaties</em>, compiled in 1902 by
Charles J. Kappler, Clerk to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#ia" id="id13">[13]</a>
This contains the full text of the treaties. It is available to read at
<a class="reference external" href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008319763">HathiTrust.org</a>.</p>
<p>I also found a map of <a class="reference external" href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70114965/plate-1.pdf">"Indian land areas judicially established"</a>. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#ilje" id="id14">[14]</a> I believe
it was produced at the direction of the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Claims_Commission">Indian Claims Commission</a> before its closing
in 1978. The map contains a note that says:</p>
<blockquote>
This map portrays the results of cases before the U.S. Indian Claims Commission
or U.S. Court of Claims in which an American Indian tribe proved its original
tribal occupancy of a tract within the continental United States.</blockquote>
<!-- On the `Bureau of Indian Affairs website <https://www.bia.gov/>`__, I found a `map <https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/bia/ots/webteam/pdf/idc1-028635.pdf>`__ of the lands of Federally recognize tribes. -->
<!-- I also found a map of `"Indian land areas judicially established in 1978" <https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia_prod.opengov.ibmcloud.com/files/assets/public/pdf/Indian_Land_Areas_Judicially_Established_1978_and_AI_Reservations.pdf>`__. -->
<!-- Broken map from Bureau of Indian Affairs: https://biamaps.doi.gov/indianlands/ -->
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="wotr" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id10">[10]</a></td><td>Saunt, Claudio. <em>West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776.</em> W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="ioa" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id11">[11]</a></td><td>The map URL, <tt class="docutils literal">invasionofamerica.ehistory.org</tt>, redirects to a page at the <tt class="docutils literal">arcgis.com</tt> domain,
<a class="reference external" href="http://usg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eb6ca76e008543a89349ff2517db47e6">http://usg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eb6ca76e008543a89349ff2517db47e6</a>.
I suspect that one of these links will break someday and this painstakingly detailed ArcGIS map will become inacessible.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="ar" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id12">[12]</a></td><td><em>Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution</em>.
Ed. by J. W. Powell, vol. 18. Government Printing Office, 1899.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="ia" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id13">[13]</a></td><td><em>Indian Affairs: Laws And Treaties.</em> Ed. by Charles J. Kappler, 5 vols. Government Printing Office, 1904.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="ilje" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id14">[14]</a></td><td>The digital object identifier (DOI) link with more metadata is <a class="reference external" href="https://doi.org/10.3133/70114965">https://doi.org/10.3133/70114965</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- TODO: -->
<!-- Section to add: Labor -->
<!-- * Statement on marble sourcing in the CCC at the 2019 architecture biennial -->
<!-- * Wiki says Krannert also has marble from Carrara, Italy. Need to find a citation. -->
<!-- * Monuments to labor deaths at large public works like dams, bridges, skyscrapers, etc.? -->
<!-- * Pyramids and slave labor -->
<!-- * Ongoing forced labor in US prisons; exception to slavery in the Constitution; sites of planations become state prisons after Civil War -->
<!-- Krannert marble: https://web.archive.org/web/20120721211857/http://www.kcsa.uiuc.edu/Tours/tourWeb/LobbyPage.html -->
<!-- "The marble walls seen around the lobby are made of Carrera [sic] marble. This marble comes from quarries in Carrera [sic], Italy." -->
<!-- Other Refs -->
<!-- New Yorker article https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/canadas-impossible-acknowledgment -->
<!-- Canadian school text? https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/Elementary/Treaty%20AcknowledgementFINAL.pdf -->
<!-- New Zealand: https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-New-Zealand-equivalent-of-the-acknowledgement-of-country-statement-used-in-Australia-and-if-so-what-is-the-proper-wording-for-it -->
<!-- Australian "acknowledgement of country": https://www.michaelamcdonnell.org/acknowledgement-of-country -->
<!-- https://magazine.nursing.jhu.edu/2019/10/acknowledging-the-land-on-which-we-build/: "Indigenous Land Acknowledgment, by non-Native institutions, is new in the US and follows well-established protocols in Australia, Canada and New Zealand." -->
<!-- More canada maps -->
<!-- https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geomatics/canada-lands-surveys/11090 -->
<!-- Treaties and Comprehensive Land Claims in Canada Map -->
<!-- https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/pdf/treaties_and_comprehensive_land_claims_in_canada_WCAG.pdf -->
</div>
</div>
Carriages2019-08-02T00:00:00-05:002019-08-02T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2019-08-02:/carriages.html<p>Webster's Dictionary <a class="footnote-reference" href="#websters" id="id1">[1]</a> lists many different types of
carriages among its entries. Strangely, it seems to me, most of these
are accompanied with illustrations. These always catch my eye as I
look up words, so I've gradually become aware of the great diversity
in the construction of these vehicles. For …</p><p>Webster's Dictionary <a class="footnote-reference" href="#websters" id="id1">[1]</a> lists many different types of
carriages among its entries. Strangely, it seems to me, most of these
are accompanied with illustrations. These always catch my eye as I
look up words, so I've gradually become aware of the great diversity
in the construction of these vehicles. For no reason other than to
scratch an itch, I've collected a list of different types of carriages
and wagons here. Unless otherwise noted, I believe I found them in
Webster's.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>berlin</li>
<li>brougham</li>
<li>buckboard</li>
<li>cabriolet</li>
<li>chaise</li>
<li>coach-and-four <a class="footnote-reference" href="#stephenson" id="id2">[2]</a></li>
<li>dearborn</li>
<li>dogcart</li>
<li>droshkey</li>
<li>four-in-hand</li>
<li>gig</li>
<li>hackney</li>
<li>hansom</li>
<li>jaunting car</li>
<li>phaeton</li>
<li>post chaise <a class="footnote-reference" href="#gibbon" id="id3">[3]</a></li>
<li>prairie schooner</li>
<li>rickshaw</li>
<li>sleigh</li>
<li>stagecoach (or simply <em>coach</em>)</li>
<li>surrey</li>
<li>telega</li>
<li>tuk-tuk</li>
<li>van</li>
<li>victoria</li>
</ul>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="websters" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td><em>Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary</em> (G. & C. Merriam Company, 1979)
and <em>Webster's New International Dictionary</em> (2nd ed., G. & C. Merriam Company, 1941)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="stephenson" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id2">[2]</a></td><td>Neil Stephenson's <em>Quicksilver</em> (William Morrow and Company, 2003)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="gibbon" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id3">[3]</a></td><td>Edward Gibbon's <em>The Autobiography of Edward Gibbon</em> (ed. by Dero A. Saunders, Meridian Books, 1961)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Minimalist Websites2019-08-02T00:00:00-05:002021-03-11T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2019-08-02:/minimalist-sites.html<p>I like hand-made personal websites, especially those with a minimalist
bent, so I've collected some here.</p>
<div class="section" id="show-me-the-sites">
<h2>Show Me the Sites</h2>
<p>Shared hosting sites <a class="reference external" href="https://crime.team/">crime.team</a> and
<a class="reference external" href="http://tilde.club/">tilde.club</a> are styled like a terminal window.
(Here's a <a class="reference external" href="http://tilde.club/%7Epfhawkins/othertildes.html">list</a> of
some more.)</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="https://legiblenews.com/">Legible News</a> is a news site populated
from Wikipedia's Current …</p></div><p>I like hand-made personal websites, especially those with a minimalist
bent, so I've collected some here.</p>
<div class="section" id="show-me-the-sites">
<h2>Show Me the Sites</h2>
<p>Shared hosting sites <a class="reference external" href="https://crime.team/">crime.team</a> and
<a class="reference external" href="http://tilde.club/">tilde.club</a> are styled like a terminal window.
(Here's a <a class="reference external" href="http://tilde.club/%7Epfhawkins/othertildes.html">list</a> of
some more.)</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="https://legiblenews.com/">Legible News</a> is a news site populated
from Wikipedia's Current Events portal. (It is built by <a class="reference external" href="https://www.coltonhurst.com/index.html">Colton Hurst</a>, who has a fairly
minimalist site, too.)</p>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://text.npr.org/">text-only version of NPR</a> is pretty
neat.</p>
<p>The personal website of <a class="reference external" href="http://domhofmann.com/">Dom Hofmann</a>, a
co-founder of Vine, <em>has no CSS.</em></p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="https://tillery.fyi/blog/">Raw file directory exposed by web server?!</a></p>
<p>There is a certain style of blog where the page is dominated by a
simple list of articles, which seems to have been informed by the
general style of <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_template_system#Static_site_generators">static site generators</a>.
Here are some: <a class="reference external" href="https://trevore.com/">Trever Elkins</a>, <a class="reference external" href="https://www.devever.net/~hl/">Hugo Landau</a>, <a class="reference external" href="https://danluu.com/">Dan Luu</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://blog.zorinaq.com/">Marc Bevand</a></p>
<p>Idiosyncratic and minimal: <a class="reference external" href="http://gaxun.net/">Gaxun.net</a></p>
<p>More full-featured, but hand-made feel: US branch of the <a class="reference external" href="http://transfiguration.chartreux.org/index.htm">Carthusian
Order</a>, poet <a class="reference external" href="http://erikkennedy.com/">Erik
Kennedy</a>, poet <a class="reference external" href="https://www.stephaniekwak.com/">Stephanie Kwak</a></p>
<p><em>Low Tech Magazine</em> has a <a class="reference external" href="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/">solar-powered site</a>.</p>
<p>Portfolios: <a class="reference external" href="http://www.audunmortensen.com/">Audun Mortensen</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://www.davidfishkind.com/">David Fishkind</a></p>
</div>
Lyric Essays2018-09-22T00:00:00-05:002018-09-22T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2018-09-22:/lyric-essays.html<p>Here are a few lyric essays written in 2015:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="../in-the-twilight.html">In the twilight of GMT+1</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="../john-henry.html">John Henry</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="../junkie.html">Junkie, don't talk to me</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="../thoughts-on-sports.html">Thoughts on sports</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="../vanitas.html">Vanitas</a></li>
</ul>
Press and Appearances2018-09-05T00:00:00-05:002020-06-01T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2018-09-05:/press.html<div class="section" id="press-and-appearances">
<h2>Press and Appearances</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>A reading I gave was covered in Susan Dunne's <a class="reference external" href="http://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-syllable-poetry-series-little-river-restorative-20171119-story.html">"Syllable: A Monthly Night Of Words And
Music At Little River Restoratives"</a> (<em>Hartford Courant</em>, 28 Nov. 2017).</li>
<li>I was profiled in Beach Sloth's <a class="reference external" href="http://www.beachsloth.com/marshall-mallicoat-man-myth-legend.html">"Marshall Mallicoat: Man, Myth, Legend"</a> (23 Mar. 2012).</li>
</ul>
</div>
Links to People2018-08-02T00:00:00-05:002021-01-19T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2018-08-02:/links.html<p>Here is a collection of links to personal websites, either those
I've stumbled upon or those run by people I know.</p>
<div class="section" id="arts-and-letters">
<h2>Arts and Letters</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.coryarcangel.com/">Arcangel, Cory</a>: arist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://berliac.com">Berliac</a>: comic book artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://gabbybess.com/">Bess, Gabby</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.crispinbest.com/">Best, Crispin</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.gwern.net/">Branwen, Gwern</a>: commentator on many topics</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.daniellebrathwaiteshirley.com/">Brathwaite-Shirley, Danielle</a>: artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://anacarrete.bigcartel.com/">Carrete, Ana</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://joshuajenniferespinoza.com/">Espinoza …</a></li></ul></div><p>Here is a collection of links to personal websites, either those
I've stumbled upon or those run by people I know.</p>
<div class="section" id="arts-and-letters">
<h2>Arts and Letters</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.coryarcangel.com/">Arcangel, Cory</a>: arist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://berliac.com">Berliac</a>: comic book artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://gabbybess.com/">Bess, Gabby</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.crispinbest.com/">Best, Crispin</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.gwern.net/">Branwen, Gwern</a>: commentator on many topics</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.daniellebrathwaiteshirley.com/">Brathwaite-Shirley, Danielle</a>: artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://anacarrete.bigcartel.com/">Carrete, Ana</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://joshuajenniferespinoza.com/">Espinoza, J. Jennifer</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.trickymothernature.com/">F, Leah</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.lyafinston.com/">Finston, Lya</a>: artist and printmaker</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.davidfishkind.com/">Fishkind, David</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://poemshape.wordpress.com/">Gillespie, Patrick</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://cassandragillig.com/">Gillig, Cassandra</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://camillehenrot.fr/en/work">Henrot, Camille</a>: artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://erikkennedy.com/">Kennedy, Erik</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.swamp.nu/">Kenyon, Matt</a>: artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.dapwell.com/">Kondabolu, Ashok</a>: personality</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://mapsformaking.com/">Kraker, Mauriah</a>: dancer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.stephaniekwak.com/">Kwak, Stephanie</a>: computery poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.audunmortensen.com/">Mortensen, Audun</a>: artist and poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.cartamonir.com/">Monir, Carta</a>: cartoonist and writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.jacksonnieuwland.com">Nieuwland, Jackson</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.pageantboys.com/">Pageant Boys</a>: my friend Alexander Sheppard's band</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://hillarypredko.com/">Predko, Hillary</a>: writer and designer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.memorypalace.blog/">Saturn</a>: artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://lkshow.biz/">Shaw, Lucy K.</a>: writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://erikstinson.com/">Stinson, Erik</a>: "writer and commercial creative"</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://ashatamirisa.net/">Tamirisa, Asha</a>: musician and artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://staceyteague.com/">Teague, Stacey</a>: poet</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.thomasthwaites.com/">Thwaites, Thomas</a>: designer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://main.bradtroemel.com/">Troemel, Brad</a>: artist</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://hannahvanarsdale.info/">Van Arsdale, Hannah</a>: videographer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.looknohands.me/">Vandy, Michelle</a>: designer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.placesiveneverbeen.com/">Wagenknecht, Addie</a>: artist and designer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.unreliablebestiary.org/">Weaver, Deke</a>: storyteller</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.leahwilks.com/">Wilks, Leah</a>: dancer</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="computing">
<h2>Computing</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://number-none.com/blow/index.html">Blow, Jonathan</a>: game designer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.foddy.net/">Foddy, Bennett</a>: game designer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://gaxun.net/">Gaxun</a>: a raft drifting on the open sea</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.sacrideo.us/">Hsu, Aaron</a>: programmer and handwriting enthusiast</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://coolguy.website/">Mandeville, Zach</a>: solarpunk</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.alicemaz.com/">Maz, Alice</a>: programmer and writer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://tom7.org/">Murphy, Tom, VII</a>: computer researcher</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://blog.invisiblethings.org/about/">Rutkowska, Joanna</a>: computer security engineer</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://tilde.town/~vilmibm/">Smith, Nathaniel</a>: founder of shared hosting site <a class="reference external" href="https://tilde.town">tilde.town</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://jonathanwhiting.com/">Whiting, Jonathan</a>: game designer</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="gopher-sites">
<h2>Gopher Sites <a class="footnote-reference" href="#gopher" id="id1">[1]</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://vernunftzentrum.de/1/ckeen/index.gph">C-Keen</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://baud.baby">Cat</a>: cool cat</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://sdf.org/1/users/celadevra">celadevra</a>: editor</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://grex.org/1/~jandal">jandal</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://sdf.org/1/users/jynx">jynx</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://circumlunar.space/1/~solderpunk">solderpunk</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="gopher://republic.circumlunar.space/1/~spring">spring</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="other">
<h2>Other</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://michaelbluejay.com">Michael Bluejay</a>: back-of-envelope stuff</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12">Vitamin B12</a>: not a person, but a great article on B12 for plant-based people</li>
</ul>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="gopher" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)">Gopher</a>
is a communication protocol introduced in 1991, the same year as HTTP.
Although far less popular than the Web today,
people still build sites in Gopherspace.
To start reading right away, use the <a class="reference external" href="https://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw">Floodgap Public Gopher Proxy</a>.
For a more immersive experience, try the <a class="reference external" href="http://lynx.invisible-island.net/">Lynx</a> browser.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
Finding Lit Mags2018-04-08T00:00:00-05:002019-11-06T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2018-04-08:/finding-lit-mags.html<p>How does a writer find publications to submit their work to? The answer doesn't
seem to be clear cut. I am not well informed, but here are some of my notes on
how to go about the search. (This information is heavily biased to the American
literary market, but maybe …</p><p>How does a writer find publications to submit their work to? The answer doesn't
seem to be clear cut. I am not well informed, but here are some of my notes on
how to go about the search. (This information is heavily biased to the American
literary market, but maybe you can find analogues to these sources in your own
country.)</p>
<div class="section" id="directories-and-trade-magazines">
<h2>Directories and Trade Magazines</h2>
<p>In the old days, from what I gather, writers would refer to directories like
<em>Writer's Market</em> (WM) <a class="footnote-reference" href="#wm" id="id1">[2]</a> and <em>Literary Market Place</em> (LMP). These books
contain lists of magazines, publishers, and literary agents, as well as
information as to the kind of work they're interested in. In <em>On Writing</em>,
Stephen King calls <em>Writer's Market</em> "the most valuable of tools for the writer
new to the marketplace." <a class="footnote-reference" href="#ow" id="id2">[1]</a> I think this sort of information could also be
found in trade magazines like <em>Writer's Digest</em>, <em>Poets & Writers</em>, and
<em>Publishers Weekly</em>.</p>
<p>These directories are still published every year to keep them up to date. Many
libraries have copies of WM and LMP in their reference section. You may be able
to find copies of writing/publishing trade magazines at the library as well.</p>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="ow" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id2">[1]</a></td><td>King, Stephen. <em>On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft</em>. Scribner, 2000, ch. 4.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="wm" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[2]</a></td><td><em>Writer's Market</em> is published by Writer's Digest Books. They have an
directories tailored to particular forms, e.g., <em>Poet's Market</em> and
<em>Novel and Short Story Writer's Market</em>. They publish <em>Guide to Literary Agents</em>.
They happen to also publish the periodical <em>Writer's Digest</em> mentioned above.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="online-resources">
<h2>Online Resources</h2>
<p>Beyond these print directories, there are some online resources that can be
useful.</p>
<p><em>Poets & Writers</em> maintains a list of literary magazines on their <a class="reference external" href="https://www.pw.org/literary_magazines">website</a> with thumbnail descriptions and
genre tags.</p>
<p>The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CMLP) compiles a directory of
independent literary publishers. While it used to be published in print, it is
now available <a class="reference external" href="https://www.clmp.org/readers/directory/">online</a>.</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://whopayswriters.com">Who Pays Writers</a> is a crowd-sourced database of
rates paid by magazines for work.</p>
<p>I think the submission manager <a class="reference external" href="https://www.submittable.com/">Submittable</a>
has a "Discover" feature on their website which shows open calls for
submissions.</p>
<p>A few times a year, <em>Entropy</em> publishes links to magazines with <a class="reference external" href="https://entropymag.org/category/where-to-submit/">calls for
submissions</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="follow-the-breadcrumbs">
<h2>Follow the Breadcrumbs</h2>
<p>You can also find magazines by following your nose instead of these more
systematic methods.</p>
<p>If there is an author you like, you can try to find the names of presses and
periodicals who have published their work. If it seems like a good fit, you
could submit to those, too. This sort of bibliographic information could be
found in the back of one of their books or embedded in biographical blurbs on
their website or in a magazine where their work appeared.</p>
<p>Literary magazines usually publish short biographies of the authors appearing
in the issue. It seems to be standard practice for writers to list the names of
other magazines they've been published in and/or the publishers of their books.
By reading these, you can find new magazines to check out. Those magazines will
have the bios of more authors and the names of more magazines. By spidering
along (not unlike a <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler">web crawler</a>), you can discover lots of
magazines. If you find one you like, you can try submitting your work to it.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="appendix-how-to-submit">
<h2>Appendix: How to Submit</h2>
<p>Here is a super-short guide on how to submit work to a book publisher or
magazine.</p>
<p>If you found the press or magazine in one of those print directories, there are
probably instructions provided about how to submit.</p>
<p>If you find them online, go to their website. Look around for a link to an
"About" or "Submissions" page. Sometimes these links are buried down at the
bottom of the page. There, you can usually find submission guidelines or
information on who to ask about submitting work.</p>
<p>Whatever the instructions say—how to send your work, who to send it to, file
formats, length restrictions, etc.—follow them as closely as you can. If you
know the name of the editor, address them by name in your cover letter. (I
won't get into cover letters... I don't know how to write these properly.)</p>
<p>After you've sent your work out, wait patiently. Forget about it. If your work
is accepted, congratulations! If you receive a boilerplate rejection notice,
don't send any reply. Don't dwell on the rejection, just move on to your next
submission. If you receive a personalized rejection, congratulations! Send a
thank-you note.</p>
</div>
Writing Published Elsewhere2018-01-31T00:00:00-06:002021-03-06T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2018-01-31:/writing-published.html<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.funnylookingdogquarterly.com/issue-5">"Queer Cinema"</a>
in <cite>Funny Looking Dog Quarterly</cite>, issue 5, Winter 2021 (18 Feb. 2021)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://anotherchicagomagazine.net/2020/11/17/poems-by-marshall-mallicoat/">2 poems</a>
in <cite>Another Chicago Magazine</cite> (17 Nov. 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://kgbbarlit.com/content/two-poems-0">2 poems</a>
in <cite>KGB Bar Lit</cite>, issue 10 (16 May 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.scum-mag.com/moon-stone/">"Moon/stone"</a>
in <cite>Scum</cite> (14 May 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.funnylookingdogquarterly.com/new-page-1">"Winter at Rat House"</a>
in <cite>Funny Looking Dog Quarterly …</cite></li></ul><ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.funnylookingdogquarterly.com/issue-5">"Queer Cinema"</a>
in <cite>Funny Looking Dog Quarterly</cite>, issue 5, Winter 2021 (18 Feb. 2021)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://anotherchicagomagazine.net/2020/11/17/poems-by-marshall-mallicoat/">2 poems</a>
in <cite>Another Chicago Magazine</cite> (17 Nov. 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://kgbbarlit.com/content/two-poems-0">2 poems</a>
in <cite>KGB Bar Lit</cite>, issue 10 (16 May 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.scum-mag.com/moon-stone/">"Moon/stone"</a>
in <cite>Scum</cite> (14 May 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.funnylookingdogquarterly.com/new-page-1">"Winter at Rat House"</a>
in <cite>Funny Looking Dog Quarterly</cite>, issue 4, Winter 2020 (1 Mar. 2020)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://queenmobs.com/2019/12/poems-marshall-mallicoat/">4 poems</a>
in <cite>Queen Mob's Teahouse</cite> (27 Dec. 2019)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://magazine.nytyrant.com/poems-marshall-mallicoat/">3 poems</a>
in <cite>New York Tyrant</cite> (17 June 2019)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://electricliterature.com/i-remember-you-were-made-of-dark-warm-wood/">3 poems</a>
in Electric Literature's <cite>Commuter</cite>, issue 57 (25 Mar. 2019)</li>
<li>"Siste Viator" featured in Susan Dunne's article <a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171129005528/https://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-syllable-poetry-series-little-river-restorative-20171119-story.html">"Syllable: A Monthly Night Of Words
And Music At Little River Restoratives"</a> in the <cite>Hartford Courant</cite> (28 Nov. 2017)</li>
<li>Songs "Cellophane" and "Fountain," co-written with Alexander Sheppard,
on the Pageant Boys' album <a class="reference external" href="https://therecordmachine.bandcamp.com/album/shadowboxing">Shadowboxing</a>, released by The Record Machine (19 May 2017)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://westernbeefs.com/mallicoat">6 poems</a> in <cite>Western Beefs of North America</cite> (mid 2014)</li>
<li>3 poems in <cite>Pop Serial</cite>, issue 5 (early 2014)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160530031314/http://www.horseghost.info/p/marshall-mallicoat_8.html">Essay</a> in the "detailed accounts of february 15, 2013" issue of <cite>horse ghost</cite> (late 2013)</li>
<li>Spoken poem "where my baby at in seattle" in <a class="reference external" href="https://keepthisbagawayfromchildren.bandcamp.com">Ho Hum Vol. 1</a>
released by <cite>Keep This Bag Away From Children</cite> (3 Apr. 2013)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.everyday-genius.com/2013/02/marshall-mallicoat.html">"Poem"</a> in
<cite>Everyday Genius</cite> (15 Feb. 2013)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150310015452/http://issue3.popserial.net:80/marshall-mallicoat/">3 poems</a>
in <cite>Pop Serial</cite>, issue 3 (early 2012)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160530012856/http://www.horseghost.info/p/marshall-mallicoat.html">"The radiators come on at night and wake me up"</a>
in <cite>horse ghost</cite>, volume one (early 2012)</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://cooprenner.com/2012/02/Red.html">4 poems</a>, co-written with Alexander Sheppard,
in <cite>elimae</cite> (Feb. 2012)</li>
</ul>
<!-- * Song "Kill Cops, Kill Yourself" in Adam Humphrey's documentary `Shitty Youth`_ [at the 6:38 minute mark] (Nov. 2012)
.. _`Shitty Youth`: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppm8__FxZ4o -->
Past Readings2018-01-02T00:00:00-06:002018-09-07T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2018-01-02:/readings.html<div class="contents topic" id="this-is-a-catalog-of-almost-all-of-the-poetry-readings-i-ve-given">
<p class="topic-title">This is a catalog of almost all of the poetry readings I've given.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#nov-2017-in-hartford-conn" id="id1">5 Nov. 2017 in Hartford, Conn.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#sept-2013-in-new-york-n-y" id="id2">27 Sept. 2013 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#jan-2013-in-new-york-n-y" id="id3">31 Jan. 2013 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#oct-2012-in-new-york-n-y" id="id4">26 Oct. 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#july-2012-in-new-york-n-y" id="id5">4 July 2012 in New York, N …</a></li></ul></div><div class="contents topic" id="this-is-a-catalog-of-almost-all-of-the-poetry-readings-i-ve-given">
<p class="topic-title">This is a catalog of almost all of the poetry readings I've given.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#nov-2017-in-hartford-conn" id="id1">5 Nov. 2017 in Hartford, Conn.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#sept-2013-in-new-york-n-y" id="id2">27 Sept. 2013 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#jan-2013-in-new-york-n-y" id="id3">31 Jan. 2013 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#oct-2012-in-new-york-n-y" id="id4">26 Oct. 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#july-2012-in-new-york-n-y" id="id5">4 July 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#jan-2012-in-new-york-n-y" id="id6">28 Jan. 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#late-2008-in-lawrence-kan" id="id7">Late 2008 in Lawrence, Kan.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#apr-2008-in-topeka-kan" id="id8">27 Apr. 2008 in Topeka, Kan.</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#early-2007-in-lawrence-kan" id="id9">Early 2007 in Lawrence, Kan.</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!-- Associated Press Stylebook abbreviations for state and country -->
<div class="section" id="nov-2017-in-hartford-conn">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id1">5 Nov. 2017 in Hartford, Conn.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: Little River Restoratives bar</li>
<li>Why: <a class="reference external" href="https://syllableseries.wordpress.com/">Syllable reading series</a></li>
<li>Other readers: Sonya Huber, Kem Joy Ukwu, songs by Lauren Bolstridge</li>
</ul>
<p>The Syllable reading series is organized by Julia Pistell and Brett Maddux.
I had emailed Julia some poems and asked if I could participate.
This installment was held at a bar in Frog Hollow, Hartford.</p>
<p>Sonya Huber teaches as Fairfield University.
She read some essays from a collection focusing on the subject
of chronic pain. She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.</p>
<p>I one of here essays, she talks about how her condition makes her skin permeable
to the environment. Pollution, such as smoke/exhaust or chemicals, can actually
cause her pain. What struck me is that, although this sort of damage to the
environment is invisible to most people, she literally <em>feels</em> it in her body.
There are real victims of pollution, which I didn't appreciate. Also, it
occurred to me that, if we all were similarly sensitive to the environment,
maybe we would work harder to keep it clean. (We surround ourselves with
poisons of our own making, such as xenoestrogens.)</p>
<p>Kem Joy Ukwu read two short stories. She is from New Jersey.</p>
<p>Lauren Bolstridge played some songs on acoustic guitar.
She is from West Hartford, CT and lives in the area, I think.</p>
<p>I talked to Susan Dunne, the Arts Writer from the Hartford Courant.
She wrote an <a class="reference external" href="http://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-syllable-poetry-series-little-river-restorative-20171119-story.html">article</a> about the reading, featuring one of the poems I read.</p>
<p>At the reading I met some artists and curators who are, perhaps, friends with Brett.
I had a good time talking to them.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="sept-2013-in-new-york-n-y">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">27 Sept. 2013 in New York, N.Y.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: Molasses Books in Brooklyn</li>
<li>Why: ?</li>
<li>Other readers: Sarah Jean Alexander, Jonathan Aprea, Connor Messinger,
unknown others</li>
</ul>
<p>Molasses Books is a single-room bookstore/cafe/bar in Bushwick, Brooklyn.</p>
<p>I felt like people were reading sort of quietly, so I tried to read real loud.
(I'm not sure if I accomplished this.)
I think I read alright. I was sort of nervous.</p>
<p>Jonathan Aprea had a line about how at the north pole, there
is no north, and every direction is south. Then he had a line about how
at the center of a condominium, there is no condominium.
I really liked this idea and told him so.</p>
<p>Afterward we went to a bar (Tutu's) near the <a class="reference external" href="https://mellowpageslibrary.tumblr.com/">Mellow Pages Library</a>.
We ate and people drank then everyone left.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="jan-2013-in-new-york-n-y">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">31 Jan. 2013 in New York, N.Y.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: Housing Works in Manhattan</li>
<li>Why: Release of Mira Gonzalez's book
<cite>i will never be beautiful enough to make us beautiful together</cite></li>
<li>Other readers: Mira Gonzalez, Spencer Madsen, Giancarlo DiTrapano,
Kool A.D. (Victor Vazquez), Melissa Broder, Willis Plummer</li>
</ul>
<p>This was the biggest reading I had ever done. Spencer invited me. His press
<em>Sorry House</em> was publishing Mira's book.</p>
<p>I wore a polo shirt and a hoodie. The reading went fairly well. I read a thing
about the Gatorade "G-series" which people seemed to think was funny. A video
was recorded by Sam Cooke, but it now seems to be lost. The webpage archived by
<a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131020095052/http://vimeo.com/user11004662">archive.org</a> shows where it was once hosted.</p>
<p>There was an after-party at a bar.
I was in a weird mood and didn't talk much to people.
I took the train home to Connecticut afterward.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="oct-2012-in-new-york-n-y">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">26 Oct. 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: apartment in Brooklyn</li>
<li>Why: <cite>Keep This Bag Away From Children</cite> release</li>
<li>Other readers: Jordan Castro, David Fishkind, Mallory Whittan,
Andrew Worthington</li>
</ul>
<p>This reading was for the release of an issue of
<cite>Keep This Bag Away From Children</cite>, edited by Andrew Worthington and others.
I was invited to read, although I wasn't published there.
Jordan Castro played a few songs in addition to reading.
I think the reading was possibly at Ed Halladay's apartment.</p>
<p>Megan Boyle, Tao Lin, and Brandon Scott Gorrell were there.
There was an after-party at Tao's friend's place. It was a pretty nice
apartment. There was a big, open living room where people stood around and talked.
There was maybe a record player set up.</p>
<p>I took the train home to Connecticut afterward.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="july-2012-in-new-york-n-y">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5">4 July 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: Mike Bushnell's apartment in Brooklyn</li>
<li>Why: Fourth of July party</li>
<li>Other readers: Ana Carrete, Mike Bushnell, Maggie Lee, Caro DeCarlo,
Stephen Michael McDowell (Buttercup McGillicuddy), Mario Ariza, Jackson Nieuwland,
others</li>
</ul>
<p>This took place at a Fourth of July party on the roof of Mike Bushnell's
apartment in (I believe) Bed—Stuy, Brooklyn.
The reading got started in the evening. It was still hot after the sun went down.</p>
<p>I remember the reading being pretty rowdy.
There is some coverage of it at <a class="reference external" href="http://internetpeopleinreallife.tumblr.com/post/26469951978/mikes-reading-party-in-brooklyn-with-internet">this old blog</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="jan-2012-in-new-york-n-y">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6">28 Jan. 2012 in New York, N.Y.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: Linger café in Brooklyn</li>
<li>Why: ?</li>
<li>Other readers: Spencer Madsen, Maggie Lee, Elaine Sun,
Steve Roggenbuck, Poncho Peligroso</li>
</ul>
<p>This was my first reading in New York City, which was exciting.
I wore a button-up shirt, tucked in, and nice black pants.
I read poems from my (now unavailable) book <cite>Santo Del Supermercado</cite>,
which was written during a month-long stay at the Hilton Hotel in Stamford, CT.
I was nervous but read alright.</p>
<p>Poncho read tweets from the recently passed <a class="reference external" href="https://twitter.com/tree_bro">@tree_bro</a>.</p>
<p>Megan Boyle and Melissa Broder were there.
I arm wrestled with Spencer.
I met his brother Tyler for the first time.</p>
<p>We went to someone's apartment afterward.
I think I got a little too rowdy.
I remember throwing my shoe across the room.
That night I slept on a rug on the floor of Spencer's tiny room.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="late-2008-in-lawrence-kan">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7">Late 2008 in Lawrence, Kan.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: Henry's bar/café</li>
<li>Why: poetry class</li>
<li>Other readers: Robert Knapp, Joseph Harrington, unknown others</li>
</ul>
<p>I took a poetry class taught by Prof. Joseph Harrington
at the University of Kansas. At the end of the semester, all of the students
read together at a local venue. I remember few of their names.</p>
<p>I read some ecstatic, Ginsberg-inspired stuff.
This is the first time I read with a microphone,
and I didn't really know how to use it.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="apr-2008-in-topeka-kan">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8">27 Apr. 2008 in Topeka, Kan.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: the RowHouse Restaurant</li>
<li>Why: the "RowHouse Poetry Revue"</li>
<li>Other readers: Amy Fleury, Mickey Cesar, Dennis Etzel Jr., Kevin Rabas,
songs by Greg Fox</li>
</ul>
<!-- Readers from April 28th event: Mike Johnson, Brian Daldorph, Leah Sewell,
d. douglas, Gary Lechliter -->
<p>My recollections are aided by a flyer from the event that my parents had framed.
The reading was sponsored by the Topeka magazine <cite>seveneightfive</cite>.
It was hosted by Matt Porubsky, an editor of the magazine.
He invited me to read after some of my poems were published there.
He was a former student of Brian Daldorph,
who was a poetry professor at the University of Kansas.
It was Prof. Daldorph who had suggested I submit to the magazine.</p>
<p>The restaurant itself was located in an actual row house, I think.
I remember the green room being a small kitchen. (I don't know where
the actual cooking was done.)</p>
<p>This was the first proper reading I did. I was using the pseudonym
Zeke Collyer at the time, inspired by the Collyer brothers.
I was very young, and the other poets were much more accomplished.</p>
<p>The readers rotated through the rooms of the restaurant, reading
to the diners throughout the meal. My parents were in attendance.
I read poems about masturbation, self-mutilation, etc.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="early-2007-in-lawrence-kan">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9">Early 2007 in Lawrence, Kan.</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Where: University of Kansas student union</li>
<li>Why: open mic</li>
<li>Other readers: Mickey Cesar, Nick Sprague, Ryan Keast, Devin Lowell, others</li>
</ul>
<p>This was the first reading I did, I think.
It was an open mic event, possibly with some kind of competition element.
It might even have been billed as a "poetry slam."</p>
<p>Mickey Caesar won, I think.
He may have got a gift certificate or some other picayune as a prize.</p>
<p>My friends Nick, Ryan, and Devin also read poems.</p>
</div>
All Along the Livery Line2016-11-25T00:00:00-06:002018-09-07T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2016-11-25:/all-along-the-livery-line.html<p><cite>All Along the Livery Line</cite> is a collection of poems published from
2012 to 2014. It is available in PDF <a class="reference external" href="../media/All Along the Livery Line.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<!-- .. _here: {filename}/media/All\ Along\ the\ Livery\ Line.pdf -->
Vanitas2015-07-15T00:00:00-05:002015-07-15T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2015-07-15:/vanitas.html<div class="section" id="grave-plots">
<h2>Grave Plots</h2>
<p>My parents came into a couple grave plots. (I don't know how.) They're
trying to flip them, since they already have spots reserved. They say
that the cemetery in question isn't as desirable as it used to be, so
they want to unload them fast. Especially since cremation …</p></div><div class="section" id="grave-plots">
<h2>Grave Plots</h2>
<p>My parents came into a couple grave plots. (I don't know how.) They're
trying to flip them, since they already have spots reserved. They say
that the cemetery in question isn't as desirable as it used to be, so
they want to unload them fast. Especially since cremation is getting
more popular.</p>
<p>My mom on cremation: <em>You don't amount to much.</em> Just a two-pint Ziploc.
She dumped her mother's ashes illegally off the Pacific coast, by where
the <cite>Twilight</cite> movies were shot. The remainder was pressed into a bead
that she keeps on her Pandora bracelet. (This one aside, she has about
$1300 in charms on it.)</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="notice">
<h2>Notice</h2>
<p>I've come to understand the things I've left at my parents' house, since
moving out, as <em>horcruxes.</em> I'll keep them there safe—my old t-shirts
and books—in case I'm cut down in the street. (Tho if I was hit by a
car tomorrow, this and everything else on my computer would be lost
forever.)</p>
<p>This month I had to delete the first dead person from my email contacts:
an old boss, aged 66, a Marlboro man. Put into the bin and then the bin
emptied.</p>
<p>I received a Google Alert when my grandfather's Obits4Life page went
live, since I was listed among the bereft. My inheritance remains
obscure. It's like I was left a set of shoe trees, but threw them out,
not knowing what they were for.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="old-man-mallicoat">
<h2>Old Man Mallicoat</h2>
<p>I plan to bald gracefully. I'll keep it real short and see if I can
slide by for a couple decades. If it gets too bad, I'll shave it all off
and be done with it.</p>
<p>My eye doctor says that, if I keep using computers, my eyes will slowly
get worse and worse forever.</p>
<p>My dentist says that I grind my teeth in my sleep, probably due to
stress. So now I go to sleep in shorts and a mouthguard like a boxer.</p>
<p>After a weekend in the city, I'll have black snot and my fingers will be
swollen red around the nail. I feel like my body is already rotting.
Like I'm being fitted for the big & tall in the sky.</p>
<p>For my wake, lay me out on a California king. Run my obituary in the
<cite>Kansas City Star</cite>, my preferred newspaper of record.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="vanity">
<h2>Vanity</h2>
<p>My desk dictionary memorializes Christopher Columbus as thus: <em>1451-1506
Ital. navigator; disc. Am.</em> I doubt my legacy will be abbreviated so
succinctly.</p>
<p>They think Los Angeles will been underwater in 100 years. I estimate
I've eaten 4800 peanut butter sandwiches in my lifetime.</p>
<p>Bell peppers change color from green to yellow or orange and then to
red. I suspect this is the original metaphor for traffic lights.</p>
<p>Implicit in everything I write here is the assumption that the world has
never ended. Now that it’s been said, I don’t know why that seemed like
such a statement to make.</p>
</div>
John Henry2015-06-21T00:00:00-05:002015-06-21T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2015-06-21:/john-henry.html<div class="section" id="emails-from-your-boss-written-in-the-form-of-a-question-with-a-period-at-the-end">
<h2>Emails from your boss, written in the form of a question, with a period at the end</h2>
<p>Smart people are house slaves to the rich. Even among the aliens, the
Nordic whites rule over the little greens and grays. To my landlord, I
am an encumbrance on the property. To …</p></div><div class="section" id="emails-from-your-boss-written-in-the-form-of-a-question-with-a-period-at-the-end">
<h2>Emails from your boss, written in the form of a question, with a period at the end</h2>
<p>Smart people are house slaves to the rich. Even among the aliens, the
Nordic whites rule over the little greens and grays. To my landlord, I
am an encumbrance on the property. To my employer, a capital outlay. I
find it hard to believe that, in three million years of fossil record,
there is not a single lizard man.</p>
<p>Some open questions: Why does the cable company need my Social Security
number? Why does my boss need to know my credit score? How come I can't
give <em>him</em> a piss test? Where do cows get their calcium, if they only
eat grass? And their protein, for that matter?</p>
<p>Spy satellites are so high up, they always look straight down. If you
face forward, they can only see the top of your head.</p>
<p>I found a spot behind the security desk at the mall where I can watch
the guards idly browse the internet.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="john-henry">
<h2>John Henry</h2>
<p>To survive in white collar labor, you must cultivate a certain
lassitude, and wear it as a suit of armor. If the work load is heavy,
you have to drag your feet, since even if you finish early you won't get
sent home. If the work load is light, you have to pretend to be working
hard or you will get assigned more work. In any case, you must also
appear to be having a good time.</p>
<p>When the railroads were built, work songs were sung to set the pace of
labor. It kept everyone working at a level of exertion that could be
kept up all day in the hot sun without risking death. It also kept every
working at the same rate, so no one could foolishly work harder to win
the graces of the foreman—which would force everyone else to work
harder, and thereby endanger both their welfare and their lives.</p>
<p>In the office, there's no sound other than the dull hum of the air
conditioner and the cricketsong of computers. And your coworkers are all
blood doping—cranking on the commute, then drinking themselves to
sleep at night. How can you keep up without joining in?</p>
<p>John Henry was able to beat the steel-driving machine through sheer effort.
But afterward, his heart gave out and he soon died. The "Ballad of John
Henry" says “That old hammer killed John Henry / but that old hammer
won't kill me”. I'm saying, that old hammer won't kill me.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="not-an-apartment-but-a-dark-hole-i-lived-in-for-3-years">
<h2>Not an apartment, but a dark hole I lived in for 3 years</h2>
<p>To vacate an apartment without incident feels like getting away with a
crime. You drag your mattress down the stairwell and leave it in a
dumpster like a warm body. Having recouped the full deposit, you skip
town before the landlord gets wise.</p>
<p>To live is to be in constant fear of legal retribution: speeding,
jaywalking, illegal downloading, cheating on your taxes, and so on. The
state of Connecticut defines “loitering” as: standing around, moving
slowly about, spending time idly, sauntering, dallying, lingering, or
lagging behind. In Florida, twenty grams is a felony.</p>
<p>Say you found a pair of crystal antlers. How could you explain having a
pair of crystal antlers to the police? Better to play it safe and
quickly dispose of them.</p>
<p>Whenever you hear sirens, you think it's for you. When you see a cop,
you think "so this is how it ends". It's only a matter of time before
the black helicopters swoop down to snatch you up. As for me, I know my
last days will be described as <em>brazen</em>.</p>
</div>
Junkie, don't talk to me2015-05-09T00:00:00-05:002015-05-09T00:00:00-05:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2015-05-09:/junkie.html<div class="section" id="cold-water-after-black-coffee-is-like-tempering-steel">
<h2>Cold water after black coffee is like tempering steel</h2>
<p>I've come to a calm in the midst of my mid-morning coffee—my first and
only coffee of the day. The fog in my head burns off. The wool-legged
spiders who cobweb my attic disperse.</p>
<p>Caffeine doesn't bring euphoria—more like …</p></div><div class="section" id="cold-water-after-black-coffee-is-like-tempering-steel">
<h2>Cold water after black coffee is like tempering steel</h2>
<p>I've come to a calm in the midst of my mid-morning coffee—my first and
only coffee of the day. The fog in my head burns off. The wool-legged
spiders who cobweb my attic disperse.</p>
<p>Caffeine doesn't bring euphoria—more like an elasticity to your limbs
and a humming in your head, from the amplified sound of your blood. And
a feeling like being wrapped in warm, clean towels.</p>
<p>But it's only good for the first few sips. Just as you start to enjoy
the high, you've already peaked. By the time you finish, you're past the
plateau and down in the valley after.</p>
<p>Nowadays I'm only happy for 15 minutes at a time, followed by a
headache. And with it comes boredom. Not a boredom like watching paint
dry, but watching paint that had recently dried. The grass growing in
the lawn has stalled out, and I'm languishing in a terminal middle-class
lifestyle.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="taking-dexedrine-at-2am-in-nyc-to-hold-you-through-till-5am-when-grand-central-re-opens-and-you-can-get-a-train-back-to-connecticut">
<h2>Taking Dexedrine at 2am in NYC to hold you through till 5am when Grand Central re-opens and you can get a train back to Connecticut</h2>
<p>I'd say, if caffeine was a taxi conducting your body through the human
traffic, that Dexedrine is a black sedan speeding through a tunnel at
night.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="junkie">
<h2>Junkie</h2>
<p>I can tell when my mom has been drinking coffee. She is jubilant. She is
effervescent. She <em>bubbles</em>. I tell her, "Don't talk to me, junkie."</p>
<p>She started drinking coffee because she was narcoleptic and would fall
asleep while driving. I only started drinking coffee after I started
taking caffeine pills. Which I only took with alcohol, to make drinking
less miserable.</p>
<p>I read an insightful observation somewhere, maybe in a Gawker comment,
that Lindsay Lohan wasn't a cokehead, just an alcoholic who took cocaine
to be able to drink more.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="coffee-as-ideology">
<h2>Coffee as ideology</h2>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>You're in the city and there's coffee to buy. Either with brunch or
after when you walk around the shops. Later there's beer. Someone's
in town for a few days or it's a going away party. You drink and talk
and make plans to meet at the new brunch place in the morning. They
have the best espresso.</li>
<li>The pass code for the bathroom at the Union Square Starbucks on July
4, 2014, was 8282. And I gave it away to the first person I saw: a
Russian tourist standing in line. In turn, she gave it to the people
behind her. In this way, she was my first apostle.</li>
<li>I prefer the discretion of pill poppers and day drunks to the
perverts who go to cafes after dark.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="section" id="hairy-man">
<h2>Hairy Man</h2>
<p>In the March 2014 issue of <cite>The Red Bulletin</cite>, an interview with Nicolas
Cage (“Being Nicolas Cage”) opens with “Do you think about death?” (He
does.)</p>
<p>At the grocery store by the energy drinks, there is a sign that says
"This area is monitored by Closed Circuit Television." In the aisle by
the safety razors, the same sign, plus a sliding plastic shield across
the shelf—presumably to slow you down when scooping them into your
trash bag.</p>
<p>The implication is that there exists a cohort of congenitally hairy men
(or one Hairy Man) who both fiends for caffeine and is willing to do
anything to alleviate his condition.</p>
</div>
Thoughts on sports2015-03-02T00:00:00-06:002015-03-02T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2015-03-02:/thoughts-on-sports.html<div class="section" id="golf">
<h2>Golf</h2>
<p>The inner workings of a miniature golf course amount to a secret gospel.</p>
<p>Miniature golf is to golf what reality TV is to reality.</p>
<p>In golf, you swing lowercase L's at the tops of semicolons.</p>
<p>At the bowling alley, they give you golf pencils to keep score.</p>
<p>My grandfather …</p></div><div class="section" id="golf">
<h2>Golf</h2>
<p>The inner workings of a miniature golf course amount to a secret gospel.</p>
<p>Miniature golf is to golf what reality TV is to reality.</p>
<p>In golf, you swing lowercase L's at the tops of semicolons.</p>
<p>At the bowling alley, they give you golf pencils to keep score.</p>
<p>My grandfather owned both a set of clubs and a bowling ball. My father
has neither.</p>
<p>I've invented a new drink that's half-Arnold Palmer and half-Shirley
Temple, called the LBJ.</p>
<p>Guessing a woman's age is a kind of golf.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="other-sports">
<h2>Other Sports</h2>
<p>Baseball is basically unwatchable, but it works on the radio.</p>
<p>The counter-insurgency is Whac-a-Mole, the drug war Three-card Monte.</p>
<p>Capitalism has wrought the moneyballing of everything. The Dutch work 6
hours a day, then ride bikes home. Americans work for 6 hours, spend 2
hours on Facebook, then crawl through traffic for 45 minutes.</p>
<p>Someone who sits very still at a desk all day, looking at small numbers
on a screen, is a kind of athlete. It takes endurance. You need training
and preparation to do it without hurting yourself. These are grown men
with all the hair rubbed off their ankles by socks, and prostates the
size of clenched fists. They will show you their game face.</p>
<p>The highest compliment you can pay a man is to call him a machine. Men
strive to make themselves into weapons. This is done through emotional
distance, rituals of control, and repetition.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="on-sportsmanship">
<h2>On Sportsmanship</h2>
<p>I was a high school wrestler for one day. I was on the swimming team but
quit. After failing to induce vomiting in the bathroom, I lied about
having vomited to get out of practice. At a strip mall dojo, I put my
fist through the drywall.</p>
<p>In job interviews, I extemporize on my temperament as if I were a race
horse. As long as they let me down easy, I don't care if I don't get a
call back. To be listed among the also-rans is enough for me. I'm like a
retired greyhound who's too skinny to lie down on hardwood floors. I
understand back pain—what I lack is <em>context</em> for my back pain.</p>
<p>I saw a picture of the man with the biggest hands in the world, posing
with a basketball. But he doesn't even play basketball. He just holds it
for photographs. It's like that guy who says he's crazy about football,
only he never watches the games, doesn't know the rules, it just pops
into his mind every once in a while.</p>
</div>
In the twilight of GMT+12015-02-02T00:00:00-06:002015-02-02T00:00:00-06:00Marshall Mallicoattag:marshallmallicoat.com,2015-02-02:/in-the-twilight.html<p>The telegraph was an early internet, with its own lolcats and leetspeak.
To people in the future, we probably seem like steampunks: one foot in the
last century, carrying our brains around in our pockets like
Tamagotchis.</p>
<p>To open a file on your computer, you touch an arrowhead to a …</p><p>The telegraph was an early internet, with its own lolcats and leetspeak.
To people in the future, we probably seem like steampunks: one foot in the
last century, carrying our brains around in our pockets like
Tamagotchis.</p>
<p>To open a file on your computer, you touch an arrowhead to a tiny
picture of a manila folder. When you want to save, an artist's rendering
of a 3.5” floppy disk. Clicking on a trashcan will de-index a block of
memory. If the world was Tetris, we'd all have roofs with holes in them
(or no roofs at all).</p>
<p>Buddhist prayers wheels have a mantra written around so that, when spun,
it is like the mantra is being read. The Dalai Lama has said that having
the mantra on your computer works the same as a traditional wheel. As
the digital image spins on your hard drive, it sends the peaceful prayer
of compassion in all directions.</p>
<p>The Malaysian space agency recommends that Muslim astronauts, if they
cannot determine the direction of Mecca, pray in the direction of the
Earth. Failing that, any direction is acceptable. Additionally they
advise you to "observe peace with other beings."</p>
<p>In Tibet and Nepal, they still practice sky burials, where bodies are
stripped and laid out for the vultures to eat. But the bodies that have
been given medicine or cleaned in hospitals make the vultures sick, so
they have to be buried in the ground.</p>
<p>Apparently the most coveted donors for knee replacements are Muslim men.
Their patella are kept flexible by the years of praying on their knees.</p>
<p>There have never been middle-aged rappers before. And you can't even
make a rapper admit to rapping anymore. They've become demure.</p>
<p>I remember when pay phones cost 35 cents. I remember pay phones. I asked
around and confirmed that they don't even play beer pong with beer in
the cups anymore. They just keep score on paper. We will be among the
last people on Earth to remember before the Internet, if yet we still
do.</p>