From Mike Flugennock, DC's anarchist cartoonist --- (PS I own an LFL)
"Little Twee Library"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=3529
I don't know about your city, but here in the tonier 'hoods of DC, the
Little Free Libraries are a big thing. Sounds really sweet and noble
and grassrootsy mutual-aidy n'shit until you get a load of what's
actually in the goddamn things. It's basically the kind of
instantly-obsolete stuff you used to see stacked on the sidewalk in
front of the fence in front of the house with a little post-it note
reading "FREE" — old college textbooks, trendy disposable political
tomes, pseudo-academic shartage by "public intellectuals", cute trendy
late '00s millennial YA novels, trendy child-rearing stuff, trendy
self-helpy shit, people unloading all the John Grisham and James
Patterson novels they bought to read on the plane... Sure as hell
didn't see anyone giving away their copies of "On The Road" or "To
Have And Have Not" or "Sirens Of Titan" or Ché Guevara's Diaries or
anything, y'know...?
So, if you're still expecting your neighborhood Little Free Library to
be a little hotspot for the sharing of important, interesting ideas
and literature, you're in for a massive disappointment as it's
actually more of a solution for the heaps of used, outdated,
past-trending books littering the sidewalk — and the perfect metaphor
for the modern American "Marketplace Of Ideas": a kitschy little fake
house full of ragged-out, out-of-date, past-their-prime, beat-to-shit
ideas that some poor sucker out there is trying to fob off on some
other suckers in your neighborhood.
The real deal, though, is that in the current climate, the real "free
libraries" are going to be serious, important places to meet and share
important, vital literature, thought and ideas and contribute to the
network of "people's free libraries" and archives, and they're going
to be truly "underground", not twee little toy houses in somebody's
front yard where you unload those old Tom Clancy piles you bought at
the DCA bookshop.
16x18 inch medium-res color .jpg image, 763kb
_____________________________________________________________
Mike Flugennock, Political Cartoons: http://www.sinkers.org/stage
Mike's press kit: http://sinkers.org/stage/?page_id=2
"Little Twee Library"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=3529
I don't know about your city, but here in the tonier 'hoods of DC, the
Little Free Libraries are a big thing. Sounds really sweet and noble
and grassrootsy mutual-aidy n'shit until you get a load of what's
actually in the goddamn things. It's basically the kind of
instantly-obsolete stuff you used to see stacked on the sidewalk in
front of the fence in front of the house with a little post-it note
reading "FREE" — old college textbooks, trendy disposable political
tomes, pseudo-academic shartage by "public intellectuals", cute trendy
late '00s millennial YA novels, trendy child-rearing stuff, trendy
self-helpy shit, people unloading all the John Grisham and James
Patterson novels they bought to read on the plane... Sure as hell
didn't see anyone giving away their copies of "On The Road" or "To
Have And Have Not" or "Sirens Of Titan" or Ché Guevara's Diaries or
anything, y'know...?
So, if you're still expecting your neighborhood Little Free Library to
be a little hotspot for the sharing of important, interesting ideas
and literature, you're in for a massive disappointment as it's
actually more of a solution for the heaps of used, outdated,
past-trending books littering the sidewalk — and the perfect metaphor
for the modern American "Marketplace Of Ideas": a kitschy little fake
house full of ragged-out, out-of-date, past-their-prime, beat-to-shit
ideas that some poor sucker out there is trying to fob off on some
other suckers in your neighborhood.
The real deal, though, is that in the current climate, the real "free
libraries" are going to be serious, important places to meet and share
important, vital literature, thought and ideas and contribute to the
network of "people's free libraries" and archives, and they're going
to be truly "underground", not twee little toy houses in somebody's
front yard where you unload those old Tom Clancy piles you bought at
the DCA bookshop.
16x18 inch medium-res color .jpg image, 763kb
_____________________________________________________________
Mike Flugennock, Political Cartoons: http://www.sinkers.org/stage
Mike's press kit: http://sinkers.org/stage/?page_id=2
No comments:
Post a Comment