You wake up with a stiff neck and temples banging toward flu, but drag yourself from bed because your mother has finally agreed to chaperone a Go-See-It with your brownie troop. You button the mocha-colored vest over your crisp blouse, clip the green tie at your neck, and slip a sash studded with citizenship stars over your shoulder. Downstairs, your mother roots through her purse for the car keys, then shrugs on her old coat. At the door, she sees the weight behind your eyes and suggests staying home. No way. You slide your mittened hand into hers and pull her to the car.

At the fire station you show her off like a prize to the troop. Here she is! Too bad your moms couldn’t make it! You show her off to Fire Chief Seth who shakes her hand, then begins the station house tour. First, he leads the troop through the kitchen and the bunk room. Sandra B. asks who cooks and makes the beds without a woman around.

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DSM Wants Noir

People talk funny in tough times. They cut out the flowers and sundrops and punctuate their language with hard-nosed quips, threats and recriminations. Such language has lived a long life, as has the environment that provokes it, which, in terms of storytelling, arrives in the backseat of a dusty sedan, or along the damp cobblestones of a dim alley. You know what we’re talking about, don’t ya slim? No? Well then, let’s take a walk, and don’t forget your fedora. We’re headed for that cultural wasteland known as Noir, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Picking up what we’re putting down?

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The World On A String(s)

Tuesday warrants poetry and we comply with a review of Charlie Smith, Lawrence Raab, Bruce Bond and Liz Waldner. Also there’s an introduction to Mr. Burns — Robert, not Montgomery. After you settle down from all that verse, join us as we dive into novelistic waters, with an interview of Sasa Stanisic, author of How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone. Jessa Crispin strays from Bookslut and talks about a new anthology of European fiction. If you’re American, she posits you won’t be interested. But trust us, you’d be missing out. Markus Taylor explains how to throw the best house party ever, which right about now sounds downright dreamy. And finally, if it weren’t for Matteo Ricci, none of us would know where the hell we’re going. Hey hey cartography! – Andrew Geer

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