think outside the box? what's a box? you must be nuts.

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Thursday
October 23, 2003

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Anthropology 101
One cause of society's psychoses is that objects lack stories.
Time was, every so-called object related to some grander
scheme via a narrative, usually a creation myth.1
In contemporary "Western" society, we are
surrounded by objects without stories.2
As a result, people feel disconnected.
What I'm going to do is tell the tale
of mundane objects which surround
me, then I am going to auction the
objects off
, selling them as ways in
to the stories they embody. It is an
experiment, a new literary genre. I am
inventing it, so please help me be the first
to cash in. Time was you'd barter for butter.
You knew where the eggs came from. Now look
at your currency, it changes every year, subtle and large.
There's nothing to fear, anyway. The world ends every day.3

version i

version ii

version iii

1The last remaining people of the 20th century, the Australian aborigines, sang their history when on walkabout, naming the origins of every rock, tree, and lizard along the way. Suchlike is related in Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines.
2"MADE IN CHINA" is usually the extent, and though we suspect slave labor is involved, we quickly block it out, denial being our primary survival mechanism. Have faith and either the Good Lord or Walmart will provide, no need to take anything too seriously. I mean, if the network news doesn't care, why should I? The few million who read are polluting their eyes with Newsweek and TIME.
3Approximately 40,000 people die on earth every 24 hours. Does the world end for them, or is it only the beginning?