This week we’re pleased to present “humboldt waterfronts,” new fiction from d. Below, the writer discusses the background of the story.

it is an honor to be chosen for inclusion in fringe.  i like the mag’s vision, aesthetic and attitude, and i agree with fringe on the importance today of language on new frontiers.

“humboldt waterfronts” is an installation of objects.  each object was made out of a found moment and each moment containing some commentary on various changes in humboldt county, 1970-2010.

as an artist/designer, i am interested in the tension between found and stolen objects.  in some regard, all objects are stolen.  nobody owns anything.  and in the same regard, all objects are found–though many humanoids may claim ownership of them through time.  unlike my other works, “humboldt waterfronts” does not obviously contain appropriated information (or information widely considered to be owned).  but every moment of the work is appropriated–if not stolen–as each originates with and centers on a being outside the artist.   so “humboldt waterfronts” is just like my other works: it could be hot.

in the call for submissions to MAPS, fringe mentions information designer edward tufte.  tufte’s mother, virginia tufte, is the author of a pivotal work on the cartography of sentences (she has a particularly unorthodox view of syntax) titled grammar as style.  among other things, tufte shows very beautifully how much is going on in the world of meaning as a consequence not of content, but of syntactical choices.  tufte’s work influenced me tremendously.  across what terrain you shepherd your reader on his/her trip and how you travel–these things affect the reader powerfully and constitute understanding.  we all know, of course, how a sentence may sound like a river, or like a hammer.  but tufte takes it to level 2.  she helped me see grammar/syntax not as a fixed set of rules to be followed, but as a lot of choices, and some of those choices really loaded.  tufte was a big part of my decision to approach composition in its entirety as design, installation and/or manufacture.

my feeling is that information design is replacing writing.  the new processes of composition are fundamentally different.  this is happening because we’re evolving. we’re leaving the sentence behind.  it’s sad, because a lot of cool stuff is in sentences forever, and in the future, sentences will be as little understood as are hieroglyphics today.  the book, or the article or essay, is like a stone age tool.  it’s huge and slow.  new language is like bruce lee.  it’s quick and over with, and you remember it for a long time.

all of my work is political.  but there are no villains.  there is humanoid confusion and a desire for all things 2 b loved more deeply and fully.  in “humboldt waterfronts,” there is the nightmare of the meat industry’s handling of the chicken people, and there is the dream of america, equality, and the pursuit of joy reaching someday to all consciousness–regardless of species.  i haven’t trusted a humanoid in 24 years, but i trust in time and the unstoppable unfolding of the highest form.