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The Boy Detective Fails We all grow older. And, as it happens, we realize that much of what we gain is balanced by what we lose. Billy Argo, child detective, is Joe Meno’s poster boy for how radically one can change when struggling to balance loss, identity, and ultimately a healthy world perspective. The genre of the child detective provides a perfect Petri dish in which to witness this struggle: ingenuity and idealism alloyed together to deal with a situation that seems bigger than our young hero could ever be expected to overcome. It all begins with the loss of Billy’s sister/crime-solving partner, Caroline, at an early age to suicide. This is hardly an ending befitting a hero’s assistant, and we begin to suspect that Billy’s greatest challenges will be internal ones. Indeed, his grief is so extreme and his expectations so shaken that following his own flirtation with suicide, he detours from a promising career as astute crime fighter and finds himself in an extended stay at St. Vitus’s Hospital for the mentally ill. Now thirty years old and heavily medicated, Billy resists rejoining the outside world, or even an adult life. But mystery after mystery presents itself to our emotionally stunted hero. There’s the puzzle of the headless house pet of two children whom Billy befriends, and the masked villains who plan to vanish skyscrapers and inconvenient relationships alike. But Billy isn’t having it, at least not at first. For him, mystery itself has become unbearable. The presence of inexplicable evils in the world is too much for the not-so-young boy detective. And so, he begins a greater battle within himself, exposing the cracks in his idealism—wounds as palpable as the scars on his wrists. The boy detective finds that his most consuming battles are less about solving bank heists and thwarting villainous conspiracies than about confronting a realization that nature, with its succession of random occurrences, is truly horrifying. No longer wanting to detect, he begins to fear all mystery. Even the villains seem locked in their battles of circular logic to justify world domination by creating safely reordered evil utopias. Billy is confronted by the possibility that doing evil is actually a more familiar part of our nature and that doing good beyond that which benefits ourselves. This is exemplified in an exchange between the hero and his arch nemesis, Professor Von Golum:
Meno gently but insistently reminds us that some of our most transformative moments as we emerge from adolescence come as the result of increasing awareness of our inability to control most of the events in our lives. Sometimes, finding answers to the questions that haunt us comes at a surprising cost, while on occasion, living without the comfort of neat resolution is part of the natural order of things. Billy eventually comes to a conclusion of sorts about the loss of his sister, and finds that his idealism can no longer play the same unchallenged role in his expectations of other people or himself. Many of us have come to similar conclusions when confronted with the cataclysmic events of recent years, both culturally and individually. Meno offers us a sweet but relevant cautionary tale, complete with judiciously employed irony and a relatively happy ending. Joe Meno (’97) is a graduate of Columbia’s Fiction Writing program, where he is now full-time faculty. Meno’s previous books include Hairstyles of the Damned, How the Hula Girl Sings, Tender as Hellfire, and Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir. Guido Mendez is the art director for DEMO magazine and senior designer in the office of Creative and Printing Services at Columbia. |
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Pacifist Chicken and Other Largely Humorous Stories of small Hopes With its friendly orange cover, unassuming size, and scrupulously humble title, Andrea Kampic’s debut volume makes no grand claims of depth, profundity, importance, or entertainment value. Which makes the reader’s journey through these 23 beautifully written, charmingly odd, and bitingly insightful stories all the more delightfully surprising. Kampic sets the tone with the first story, “My Dream Dog.” The story’s narrator, discouraged by “a series of terrible dates and short turbulent relationships,” finds herself lonely and depressed, “about to give up on finding someone to spend my life with, maybe have children with, a companion.” (You know the feeling, we’ve all been there.) Compared to the men in her life, her dog, Charlie, starts looking better and better. “He . . . was always interested in what I was doing and really listened when I talked about my day; was up for anything, at any time; . . . never complained; gratefully ate anything I fed him; . . . never drank or did drugs; . . . had no religious or political views that I disagreed with (I suspected he was a liberal like me after listening to so much NPR); missed me when I was at work, and was so happy to see me when I came home.” Plus, he’s cute. She begins to wish Charlie were a man—he’d be the perfect man, after all. The next half-dozen pages spin out an offbeat “be-careful-what-you-wish-for” tale about the difficulties involved in teaching Charlie the intricacies of human social etiquette, such as peeing in the toilet (rather than the bushes), using silverware, and “sitting on the couch with his legs, not his arms, on the floor.” This doomed-from-the-start relationship story wraps up with a truly unexpected—and darkly hilarious—twist. Other stories tell the tales of a group of strategically malicious bath toys, a man with a motley crew of imaginary friends, a post-utopian amusement park called “Industryland” that recalls the glory days of Gary, Indiana, and the title story, “Pacifist Chicken,” about a cock who not only refuses to fight, but converts all the other roosters to pacifism. The stories have a surreal edge, yet seem absolutely grounded in a banal reality that makes even the most ridiculous scenarios weirdly believable. This is one of those rare books that made me laugh out loud in public—reading in on the “L,” waiting for a friend to show up for an after-work drink—and that’s always a good thing. Buy Pacifist Chicken and Other Largely Humorous Stories of small Hopes Andrea Kampic (’91) earned a master’s in Film Writing and Production from Columbia, and a Journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has worked in Hollywood as a photographer, camera assistant, and second-unit film director while writing screenplays. This is her first book. Ann Wiens is the editor of DEMO, and a painter and art writer. |
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MP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project MP3 is an elegant, slip-cased trio of books published by the Aperture Foundation in collaboration with Columbia’s Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP). The volume highlights three stellar, emerging artists from the Midwest Photographers Project, a rotating archive established in 1982 by the MoCP to support the work of Midwestern photographers. Recent portfolios by Midwest Photographers Project artists Kelli Connell, Justin Newhall, and Brian Ulrich are the subjects of these 25-page volumes and a recent exhibition at MoCP. Connell, who is from Ohio, uses a single model and digital manipulation to create provocative, two-person narratives that explore narcissism and gender in relationships. Newhall’s series is a wistful, contemporary road trip down the Lewis and Clark trail. And Ulrich’s Copia is a witty, richly detailed exposé of American mores. Using a waist-level, medium-format camera to candidly—often surreptitiously—capture the spectacle of malls, big-box stores, and other overstuffed retail environments, as well as the dazed, overwhelmed shoppers within them, Ulrich presents a heady critique of the culture of consumption in the post-9/11 era. Buy MP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project Brian Ulrich (’04) earned an M.F.A. in Photography from Columbia. A solo exhibition of his works, “Thrift,” runs December 1 through January 6 at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago. Audrey Michelle Mast (’00) graduated with a B.A. in Critical Studies of Film and Video. She is a contributing editor to the weekly online publication Flavorpill CHI, a regular contributor to Pistil magazine, and a former editor of F News, the monthly newsmagazine of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. |
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Rusty Nail With great descriptions and attention to detail, J.A. Konrath’s Rusty Nail is a colorful, comprehensive murder mystery. Konrath gives knowledgeable descriptions of a vast array of topics, from guns, ammo and the Chicago Police force to fashion designers and martial arts. Although some plot points are rushed or skipped completely, the main characters are witty and engaging. Lieutenant Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels of the Chicago Police Department becomes involved in a murder case when a hand-delivered videotape arrives at her office showcasing a killer in the act of mutilating a bound woman. The Lieutenant’s professional and private lives are shaken when the killer brings Daniels’s acquaintances and loved ones into the picture. The story is fast paced, and rife with graphic details of the murders. The descriptions of the imaginative yet believable horrors the victims endure are well written, and the meticulous details linger long after the book is read. J.A. Konrath (’92) was an undeclared major at Columbia. He is the author of the Lt. Jack Daniels thriller series, including Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary, along with Rusty Nail. He has also been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Writer's Digest, and other magazines and anthologies. Rebecca Mielcarski (’05) earned a B.A. in Journalism from Columbia and works as an editorial assistant for DEMO magazine as well as for Modern Healthcare magazine. |
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Neecey’s Lullaby: A novel Cris Burks’s prose-like style of writing helps connect the reader to the characters’ emotions and experiences. Given the solemn subject matter of this story, that connection is essential. Neecey’s Lullaby is the story of a girl in 1950s Chicago whose family falls apart. This raw coming-of-age story depicts the abuse and neglect of Neecey and her eight siblings, experienced at the hands of Ruby, their mother. Ruby, who had many children at a young age by various men, abdicates her parental responsibility for fun. “The wrong move, the wrong word, the wrong look, and Ruby would snatch her by her braids and twirl her around or toss a pot at her like it was a blown kiss.” Such is Neecey’s life. Through the lies, violence, and suffering, however, shines a glimmer of hope. Neecey’s inspirational lullaby, which is implied, rather than discussed in the novel, keeps her going and enables her to face the demons in her everyday life head on. Cris Burks (’02) received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Columbia, where she wrote Neecey’s Lullaby as her 600-plus-page graduate thesis. She also taught fiction writing classes at Columbia for several years. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in many publications, including the anthology Gumbo: A Celebration of Black Writers, and she is also the author of the novel SilkyDreamGirl. |
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A Field Guide to Gay & Lesbian Chicago The title of this book really should be changed to “The best gay friend you may or may not have had who taught you almost everything you need to know about nearly all things gay and lesbian in Chicago.” But I guess “Field Guide” will do. Kathie Bergquist and co-author Robert McDonald have compiled a valuable and expansive resource for anyone from newcomer queers to tired old queens and even straights who either dig the gay vibe or enjoy the occasional visit from their flamboyant cousins. A little bit of history combined with a whole lot of detail and sprinkled with a few personal anecdotes, this field guide is a virtual romp through the ’hoods, dives, stages, stores, hotels (and more) that are quietly and boldly queer Chicago. Audio walking tours might be overkill, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that were next for these two out and seasoned Chicagoans. Buy A Field Guide to Gay & Lesbian Chicago Kathie Bergquist (’05) is a graduate of Columbia’s Fiction Writing program and is currently pursuing her M.F.A. For the past five years she has also been the City Editor for the Not For Tourist's Guide to Chicago. Her writing has appeared in Girlfriends magazine, The Advocate, OUT, Curve, and Publishers Weekly. She is a freelance contributor and restaurant reviewer for the Chicago Reader. James Kinser (’05) earned his M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts and is the college’s associate director of alumni relations. |
