Food/Pride

A meal was no more than a fragile defense against the inevitability of the next meal. Food itself could never answer the question of food; it only delayed the moment when the question would have to be asked in earnest.

—Paul Auster, City of Glass


“Really, you're starving? You can’t just be hungry for a second? Is your life gonna end? You have to constantly shove bread in your hole?”

—Pamela reasons with Louie. (“No,” he says, continuing to eat, chastised and happy, a preview of his love confession in his eyes.)

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My favorite thing I saw at the Albuquerque pride parade, June 30:

A woman carrying a sign with a list of names, her heroes presumably: Allen Ginsberg, Harvey Milk, Susan Sontag, etc. That's where I've always sought any feeling that might be called pride, in a list of names. My list is a lot more selfish, mostly male writers and musicians, from recent decades, that I'd like to be, but I carry it around everywhere I go.

James Baldwin

Joe Brainard

Michael Stipe

Etc. The usual people.

They Told Some Stories Like You've Never Seen

Ruins --- flowers outside the mall

I can't seem to ever put together the usual kind of book/movie/music overview mega-post that is the main purpose of this blog (and I'm off to Montana/Indiana tomorrow, on an airplane of all things--I can hardly believe it; I've been looking up at the sky in awe--so don't expect one until August), but enjoy these photos for now. I discovered, a while back, Robert Adams' collection of photos of the Northwest coast, This Day, and it was an amazing read, one that I'll forever aspire to. I’d love to write fiction that replaces narrative with the kind of momentum this book generates.

All the above photos taken with a cell phone, and not my own. I have every hope of buying a camera sometime soon. If anyone can recommend a nice and inexpensive one, please do so in the comments.

Bonus: Four images from Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000). The first one, in particular, is the reason I watch movies.