Prompt (Issue No. 2): The City
In The Practice of Everyday Life Michel de Certeau investigates the myriad routines and practices that make up our everyday life. He believed that despite repressive aspects of modern society, an element of creative resistance exists within the way we walk, talk, cook, move, and dwell.
We want to know how you live. How do you move through the city? How does your movement shape where you live? How does the city shape you? Write us a love letter to your everyday routine. Paint us a picture of the person who makes your coffee every day. Describe the texture of your sheets, the bristles of your tooth brush, the depressions in your shoes. Write us a story that examines community, or a poem that feels over-populated, or an essay that wanders.
If you need a little more inspiration, consider Yuji Agematsu’s zip series. Agematsu created these miniature sculptures by assembling debris collected on his daily walks in New York City. The sculptures are held together and contained by the cellophane used to wrap cigarette packs, then arranged into calendar-like grids.
We can’t wait to see what you create, collect, and compose.
Ways to Use the Prompt
Don’t use it at all. Submit the work that is most alive to you.
Engage with the prompt obliquely.
Engage with the prompt directly.
Surprise us completely.