“What do you believe in?”

“People’s suffering, and the fact that it is indomitable.”
—Simone De Beauvoir, The Woman Destroyed

Today I was in the bank. It’s now a Chase bank but it used to be a Chemical. I wish it still was. Nonetheless, I had some banking to do. While waiting as the teller, Hazel, made the usual motions, I became aware that although she hand counted the bills, she also passed the bills through a counting machine. Twice. I couldn’t help but ask, “So, which do you rely upon, the hand count or the machine.” She laughed and retorted, “The machine, but we don’t have no chads or dimples.” Chad dimple, count recount . . . rather no count. $125.00 dollars or $127.00. Florida. Which method does the banking establishment at Chase, much less country, rely upon? Most certainly the machine. Because the stakes are real: money and power—they are not ideals or individuals. And who dispenses these realities: Hazel and Katherine Harris. Exactly the same and yet as opposite as it can get—to quote The Woman Destroyed, “What do you believe in?”

Definitive Judgments by our Supreme Court?

So . . . contests . . . trophies . . . fishing . . . sailfish . . . gold button . . . our cover and reciprocal back letter . . . wife of Supreme Court Justice circa 1930 . . . Mrs Stone wins . . . one and 1/2 hours to land . . . seven feet ten inches long . . . 66 1/2 lbs.

Postscript: January 13th. Received a courtesy letter from the Chase Manhattan Bank:“Most likely, you have heard and read about the merger between The Chase Manhattan Cooperation and JP Morgan & Co, which became official January 2, 2001.”

A customer’s suffering . . . a country’s suffering . . . a fish’s suffering “and the fact that it is indomitable,” or rather, expected.

Devon Dikeou
New York, New York
2000

Sweden Unlimited is Sweden Design group, website, graphic, and occasional interior design company, and is also SWEDEN the casiocore rock group. We are neither Swedish nor Scandinavian-a-philes, although we love a good Swedish meatball. Our interests vary from good design to bad design, computers, music, art, and little furry things. We are Richard Agerbeek, Alex Kress, and Leja Kress. View our projects at http://www.sweden unlimited.com/ and http://www.swedenmusic.com/.

Paul Ramirez-Jonas is an eternally emerging artist living and working in New York. He has lived half his life in Honduras and half his life in the United States. He is currently working on an upcoming project for the Public Art Fund. Devon Dikeou introduced him to MTV in 1985.

Sze Tsung Leong and Chuihua Judy Chung are founders of the New York firm Content Design Architecture (CODA Group), whose projects encompass editorial and publication work, graphics and identity systems, and architecture. They are co-authors, co-editors, and designers of the forthcoming Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping.

Mary Barone and Simon Henwood have collaborated on a variety of projects including an installation of Henwood’s 3D animation, Johnny Pumpkin, currently on view at the UCLA Hammer Museum.
Lawrence Seward: Today, the sun is setting through light rain clouds drifting down off the dark lush mountains. The ocean reflects the darkening sky and is vast like blank daydreams or deep sleep. There are rainbows everywhere, tucked in valleys, and crossing barren beaches. I am excited to be making art in a time of confusion.

Tom Rayfiel’s novel Colony Girl (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) was selected one of the Los Angeles Times’ “Best Books of The Year.” It is published in paperback by Picador.

Ester Partegàs: 28, 5’8”, Mediterranean female, restless, lazy, multimedia, likes with immoderacy dancing and chewing her nails. Seeks financially and emotionally insecure common spaces for possible serious long term relationships. Box # 1-718

Giasco Bertoli is an artist. He lives and works in Paris.

Pauline Daly lives and works in London.

Sari Carel is an artist. She lives and works in New York. While in Las Vegas this summer, she had a chance to catch up with Dave Hickey, cultural critic and freelance writer. Dave Hickey is curating the fourth “Site Santa Fe Biennial”. Check out The Invisible Dragon and Air Guitar among the many works he has published. It’s a win win situation.
smeeec@aol.com

Olav Westphalen is a German artist living in New York. He is represented by Galerie Michael Neff, Frankfurt, and Galerie Thomas Wallner, Malmö. He recently produced ESUS, a project with the Public Art Fund in NYC. His drawings are published in NU, on artnet.com and in various European magazines and papers.

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