I pitched this piece before Kenneth Goldsmith’s March 2015 performance at Brown University, and I wrote the interlinking reflections that follow the first section right after Goldsmith’s performance, so the progression of my thinking within this reflection is contorted and strange, especially now that I’m writing this preface months later.
I’M A REAL ARTIST I’M A REAL MAMMAL I’M A REAL SON I’M A REAL AMERICAN I’M A REAL HOMOSEXUAL I’M A REAL BROTHER I’M A REAL HOMINID I’M A REAL CREATOR I’M A REAL THIRTY-YEAR-OLD I’M A REAL FRENCH I’M A REAL UNCLE I’M A REAL COOK I’M A REAL MASTURBATOR I’M A REAL DESCENDANT I’M A REAL PRACTITIONER I’M A REAL READER
A way to begin is finding a way to begin without. Writing with brown outs and without internet on this island is to begin without access to the etymology of the word begin. On this island you learn to live off scraps washed up from where. The word begin is made of scraps washed up on fishermen’s shore. The words are plastic post apocalyptic bits: a pink child’s wallet, soda bottle wrappers, Shoe Mart shopping bags.
A way to begin is finding a way to begin without. Writing with brown outs and without internet on this island is to begin without access to the etymology of the word begin. On this island you learn to live off scraps washed up from where. The word begin is made of scraps washed up on fishermen’s shore. The words are plastic post apocalyptic bits: a pink child’s wallet, soda bottle wrappers, Shoe Mart shopping bags. The scrap collector fisherman was bent over picking through whatever could support his life and house. Things
List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the Commissioner of Immigration at Port of Arrival Required by the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, under Act of Congress approved March 3, 1893, to be delivered to the Commissioner of Immigration by the Commanding Officer of any vessel having such passengers on board upon arrival at a port in the United States[1]
List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the Commissioner of Immigration at Port of Arrival Required by the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, under Act of Congress approved March 3, 1893, to be delivered to the Commissioner of Immigration by the Commanding Officer of any vessel having such passengers on board upon arrival at a port in the United States[1]
