My Roach Lives in an Aluminum Lunar Landscape

“…Monosodium glutamate…which destroys brain cells…”

Whoosh, I tune in to the hawker on the train going on in his monotone for some paper he’s holding called “The Golden Ankh.” Whoosh, I tune out.

Today I reached for the tube of aluminum foil in my kitchen. I opened the lid and a roach stared at me from the silver foil. “You live there?” I thought. “It’s so barren and silver. Christ.”

Whoosh, I tune in.

“…We teach Egyptian martial arts…”

Whoosh, out.

Radiolab did a show on memory and erasing it today. They talked about how amnesiacs have the purest memories when they finally remember. That two people who spend 20 years together each recalling their beautiful first kiss will each have corrupted that memory so deeply they are remembering two entirely different kisses. Add to that the difference in the initial sense of the experience, and what the hell are any of us doing trying to connect to each other anyway?

Ten minutes ago, I took these pictures on West 34th Street. I cannot understand why this ancient cop car was aboard a flatbed truck, but I’m super happy it was.




Whoosh, I tune in.