Friday, August 23, 2013

Jello Wrestling

I wrote this ludicrous, absurd, hyperbolistic bit of creative word play for the calendar section of the alternative newspaper called miami new times. It is a silly little piece of truth employing elements of parody and satire for the purpose of undercutting the seriosity of mafiosi mythmaking in mainstream culture as a vehicle for delivering a factually accurate cultural event promotion and fully in line with the precepts of "new journalism" established by the likes of Thompson, Didion, and Wolfe, as well as those who came after them even, decades ago. As for the origin story itself, it's not literal, it's literary. The writeup intro is not true on its face but as a means to the end it is creative non-fiction. This should be apparent to any reader as no sources are cited, the details are overly specific and impossible to prove, it basically makes no sense, and none of the elements other than the present day event being promoted bear even the slightest weight of scrutiny. Thus, by adopting an authoritative tone, the comical presented as reality is lent an air of authenticity, but, like the stories in The Onion, given the section of the paper it appeared in, should be clearly understood as a joke to even the casual reader. Nor does this prevent me from ever having published or in the future publishing complete fact or complete fiction, as established by the likes of Edna Buchanan (who I've never read) or George Pelecanos (one of my favorites), both journalists turned fiction writers. For that matter so were Twain, Hemingway, and even Tom Wolfe. Which is to say, I have written pure fact and will continue to do so; I have written pure fiction and will continue to do so; and in this somewhat amusing little writeup I have combined the two, which I'll do again if I feel like it.



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