October 17, 2004
Buy My Historic 2004 Chads!
Just as Jack London had his Wolf House and Hemingway his Finca Vigia, so does Travis LaFrance maintain a humble manor in the hinterland, a rough-hewn reservoir of genius at which I fill my canteen between urban sabbaticals and jaunts to the exotic. With the considerable royalties earned from my masterwork, Toro, I bought modest parcel on an unpaved byway through the magnificent canyon country of Grand County, Utah. There in the oblong casbah known locally as Travicello, I have done good work, and honed such gentlemanly pursuits as falconry, horticulture, and animal husbandry. Despite my rigorous traveling itinerary, I suppose I shall own Travicello till my ashes are spread beneath the shade of the mighty sycamores I planted. After that my kin will bequeath the single-wide villa to one of the historical societies dedicated to my legacy, who may likely remove its wheels to indicate that its permanence on the landscape is as certain as that of my works in the canon.
The keeping of this permanent address while residing in Whitman's Brooklyn brings up complications at election time. I opt to exercise my vote where I the soil is mine—and today I cast my absentee ballot for the County of Grand, Utah. While pollsters have opined that Beehive State, with its Mormon majority, is a lost cause for we Democrats, I say: let the chips fall where they may. I punched the hole for Straight Democratic Ticket, and shall thus send my man Kerry to White House, Matheson to Congress, and the other Matheson to the Governor's Mansion. I punched holes for my local officers and propositions as well, and the paper chads gathered like confetti on the table. As I dropped the ballot into the mailbox on 4th Avenue, I felt as if I'd poured the decisive tablespoon into the surging lake about to overflow its levee. Indeed, the flood has begun, in which the Travis LaFrance, in the tradition of London and James Cain and John Steinbeck, shall lead the nation through its philistine drought to the oasis of enlightenment, literature, and the long-awaited revival of the Democratic Party.
My next thought was: how will future curators commemorate this moment. And then it occurred to me: what greater piece of history for future curators than the very chads from the ballot of Travis LaFrance. So I've put these historical items up on sale at Ebay. Package includes eight chads, list of candidates, a photocopy of the punched ballot card, as well as the "Q-Ring Punching Device" I used. Make a bid today!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3936270669
Posted by Travis LaFrance at October 17, 2004 06:32 PM