Status Updates From McSweeney's Issue 80 (McSwe...

The little comic/activity book from John Pham is great. And how the design of the folder and activity is a part of the story, are you kidding me??? The story is a bit meh but the set design and art style are interesting. Like the limited colour palette a lot.

The flower catalogue is a delight and is making me think of what flowers I'd like to try planting in our garden this year.

That Adrian Tomine sketchbook was a real treat. I've only read a couple of his graphic novels but I know him for his very clean style, bold outlines, and limited palettes. So seeing paneling and sketches and planning was really fascinating. I kind of wish we'd had access to an interview with him or something though to round it out.

I found some disrepancies with the crossword. Are they intentional? Or a mistake? Have emailed mcsweeney's to find out :D

Power couple is an odd one. I think it's about a couple trying not to fade into their own obscurity. But honestly I'm not sure. It was fun though and I liked the Bay area setting.

"At the time we were living in Vallejo in a house his parents had bought him, a lemon-yellow cottage with a holy view of the bridge." Woof. That's the dream.

Composure is another runner up for the short story prize. It's about a young violin teacher and him navigating his place in life and love and with his students. Particularly after one boy pulls off a limp handed grotesque caricature of gay during one of their lessons. This was written as if thought in passing. The fades coming by placing us in the middle of sentences. I'm not sure if it added anything.

6 stories are more like 6 prose poems. Surreal and perfect for the theming of this collection. I like the greedy hornet.

My friend Kevin. I hate the sight of him. Just stop, I say. You're not a bull.

Grub reads like a retrospective auto fiction of a boy who loses his dad and discovers he is of the grub class at school. This isn't a topic I would normally gravitate towards but the writing here is truly sublime. There hasn't been a bad entry yet in this periodical.

On childhood: What I miss most, I think, are the feelings of awe and consequence.

One must refer to deviled eggs as dressed eggs so.as not to invite the devil into the house.

Ashes is a cautionary fairytale set in modern day Ukraine. Who is the old woman? Is she tradition?

I am honestly just so impressed with every piece of writing in here so far. The World is about someone who is born trying to improve things for those around her and at some point decides she can't fight the system anymore and turns to an internal, cloistered journey. Telling this from the sister's perspective was fanastic. And I learned a lot about the Amish.

"I know I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I think trans people come from the future. That's why I asked Juani where hairstyles are headed. It disappointed me that he did not know."