We’re voracious consumers of culture. And each week, a member of our team shares the words, images, and beers that inspired them.
Austin Kleon's In Newspaper Blackout
Read.// Because I'm always plugging short fiction, I'm often asked just what story is my all-time favorite. This is the kind of question that causes me to lose sleep at night. How on earth could I pick a single short story to crown out of all the ones I've read and loved over the years? Rather than selecting just one, though, I've come up with a list of rotating titles that I have at the ready when this question arises. One of those titles is "The Clancy Kid" by Irish writer Colin Barrett. Ostensibly about a child's disappearance, this richly layered story, which appears in Barrett's collection Young Skins, is really an exploration of all kinds of losses. By turns funny and gut-wrenching, the piece lingers in the reader's mind long after the last sentence. I'm not losing any sleep over putting this one on my favorites list.
Look.// So much depends on a black Sharpie when it comes to Austin Kleon's book of erasure poetry. In Newspaper Blackout, Kleon composes short "found" poems from words chosen judiciously from newspaper articles. The effect is a striking visual one, the redacted black space forming a spare field against which to ponder each word. It's a playful mix of written and visual art, and the results range from profound Zen-like koans to hilarious absurdities. Those that work more visual elements into the redacted space—using shapes or linking the words via arrows and dotted trails—add even more whimsy. Watch a short video of Kleon making a newspaper blackout poem and follow links to finished sample poems.
Drink.// Nope’s Alt-tails
This year, Dry January found me trying a number of nonalcoholic craft cocktails in cans. And while most were fine booze-free alternatives, they tended to blend together in my memory until I stumbled upon Nope's "Alt-tails." Neither synthetic tasting nor overly sweet, the Watermelon Chili Mojito flavor was a standout for being refreshingly grown-up. No soda comparisons to be found here. Think more “water infused with fresh fruits and carbonation” and also a tiny kick (hence the "chili" part.) Any of these things alone would be enough to make me try more Nope drinks, but throw in the fact that Nope is a women-owned business, and I'll be actively seeking all the new flavors when they drop.
Words by Alyson Mosquera Dutemple 
