A better combination, I hear, than dogs and chocolate.
Of three selections for first reading, the title, Beyond An Appreciation For Dogs, Books, and Cheeses, had immediate appeal for me. It stated
(not in the particular stacking order I would apply, more on that in a minute) three of my favourite things. A personal appeal, a pressing of a pause button on your senses, a doubletake and "hmm?" moment for you, the reader. But you have to read it, and then you have to interpret it, and then you have to go do other things with your day (which doesn't stop moving forward).
Penned by Kate Fowle about artistic exploits of Harrell Fletcher, the piece summarizes and analyzes five creations of his in an effort to demonstrate his approach to navigating the world and aiding others in their navigation. Fletcher's works, she seems to assert, is inward in direction; not necessarily the creation of new matter/structure, but a meandering through existing frameworks of culture and society to find one's niche, one's purpose. Most focus is given to a couple of film projects using Joyce's Ulysses as their template/guide. The use of cue cards from which non-dramatic, real-world gas station employees read direct quotes from the novel creates an sudden portal linking literature directly with the present moment out here in the noisy 3D world, skipping the waystop of interpretation and dumping the material right into your lap. A similar effort followed at a senior center, and another with repetition of what surprises emerge from an unfurling hand. These don't just expand on the same idea, but rather more live within it, nested as folders are in a computer file structure.
This was the overall impression (image?) which kept coming to me as I read the piece. His odd titles, the brevity of his presentation style, invite you to, as it were, click the folder, find another within it, read it, find another or stop. Then, inspired, you may turn and create your own folders, perhaps within his, perhaps within your own. Fowle states, "It is no longer tenable to consider an alternative lifestyle that can function outside of the mainstream culture we are born into." A quick glimpse of Fletcher's method shows this to be possibly true, but not necessarily limiting. With folders within folders, one is not creating a whole new world nobody's ever thought of before; just filling one that is already there with little surprises. It is up to you to open your hand and click on one.
