from A NOTE ON SAMPLING by Sérgio Bessa
11A NOTE ON SAMPLING - (Because we want to be hopeful. Toward technology.) Because, perhaps, what presents itself as utterly artificial might be, in truth, natural. Beacause to undergo an experience with language - "vague, obscure, almost speechless" - is to observe the technology of language in the making....
from VORX by Kurt Strahm
Not long ago I decided to buy a computer, invent something, and get rich. Once started, I was so busy researching possible products that I didn't have time to keep up my correspondence with old friends. it occurred to me that success without witness is no success at all.
So I developed a system that automatically manages personal correspondence. I named it the VORXTM System (Because VORX is the MUMPH* acronym for Automatic Corresondence Management System, and VORX is a product for the world market). I raised some money and formed a company - VORXSys - and hired the best programmers I could find. Our first live public test of the system follows this introduction....
*MUMPH is, of course, the ANSI-2000 Standard Merged Earth MetaLanguage (Phonetic Version), the language formed by merging all known natural languages.
from A DESERT STORY by Laura Miller
The road east from L.A. doesn't promise much. Our car sails through cheap, glossy twilight, past innumerable Happy Ranchos and Drive-By Haciendas and Quick-Buck Estates, and somewhere ahead of us is the desert. Bert is driving. he always drives. And talks. He always talks.
"...so, okay, so then when we've finished checking out the ocatillos, we can do the eight-mile hike to the oasis. If there's time. I heard we can see Vermilion Flycatchers there. Never seen one, but..." The prospect of two days in the wilderness makes him happy. He reaches over and sqeezes my knee. "You're going to love this, baby," he says.
I smile straight ahead, doing my best not to look dubious or, worse, bored. I think longingly of th novel in my purse. Will I find The New York Times out there? A hot shower? Decent food? Bert's youth still clings to his enthusiasms and mine is only now disappearing from my face. But facts are facts: we are two newly middle-aged faces peering out the windshield of a borrowed Jeep.
"Tell me again about the snakes...."
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PIEROGI PRESS is a written word publication edited by Susan J. Swenson. Artwork edited by Joe Amrhein. PIEROGI PRESS is produced in a limited, numbered edition of 450. Copies of PIEROGI PRESS (including back issues) are available at Pierogi 2000. Also available by mail: email or write to the address below for inquiries. Submissions are welcome. Please send them to susan@pierogi2000.com (.txt file) or
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