THE BELIEVER 146 (SUMMER 2024)

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In Issue 146 of The Believer: Pablo Calvi on the developing controversy around the Wakasa stone—a memorial to a Japanese-American killed at an internment camp in Delta, Utah; Paul Collins on the possibility of enfranchisement for intellectually disabled citizens; Elisa Gabbert on the logic behind roller coasters and horror films; and Ahmed Naji on Michael Heizer’s City, an immense Land Art project comprised of striking concrete sculptures. You’ll find interviews with The Office’s Creed Bratton, poet Eileen Myles, philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, and musician Caroline Rose, as well as a new comic about food delivery robots by Lane Milburn. Plus, Julia Alvarez writes about her enchanting godmother; Laura Marris hikes to a chemical-polluted creek off the Niagara River; Andrew Lewis Conn recommends a rollicking 600-page novel about postwar America; and Nick Hornby returns, humorous as ever. We also have new poems from Taneum Bambrick and Monica Sok, small press book reviews, games, a schema of highly obscure viola jokes, and so much more.

Table of Contents:

The Routine
by Andrea Bajani

Resurrector: The Phantom Menace
by Alejandro Varela

“College”
a new poem by Monica Sok

Underway
by Ruth Madievsky

“Here Comes Everybody”
by Andrew Lewis Conn

Stuff I’ve Been Reading
by Nick Hornby

Sacrifice Zone: Little Bloody Run
by Laura Marris

“Fear as a Game”
by Elisa Gabbert
When food is easy to find and survival ensured, what is there left to crave?

Schema: An Incomplete Continuum of Viola Jokes
by Jude Stewart

Creed Bratton
interviewed by Niela Orr

“A Visit to Heizer’s City”
by Ahmed Naji
For over fifty years, in a remote valley in the Nevada desert, the artist Michael Heizer has dedicated himself to the creation of several towering sculptural monuments. What will be their legacy?

Eileen Myles
interviewed by James Yeh

“Olive Oil Cake and a Raspberry”
a new poem by Taneum Bambrick

“The Recollector”
by Pablo Calvi
In Topaz, Utah, a dispute over the fate of a memorial stone has ignited a fierce debate over how the wounds of history should be remembered.

“In Transit”
a new comic by Lane Milburn

“Why Can’t My Son Vote?”
by Paul Collins

Caroline Rose
interviewed by Leopoldine Core

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
interviewed by Benjamin R. Cohen

The Way Back
by Julia Alvarez

One-Page Reviews
Short reviews of small press books, featuringTerry Nguyễn on Yasmin Zaher, Jasmine Liu on Thuận, and Dave Madden on Puloma Ghosh.