Charles Bukowski, �There�s No Business�
Yes, that�s right, there are 17 pages to this story, and yet somebody decided it would be neat to make a stand alone book featuring illustrations by Robert Crumb and charge $4.50 a pop. And why not? After all, you have two, count �em TWO so-called �underground� icons! And there�s money to be made!
The saving grace is that the story and the art are actually pretty good, so you might not feel totally ripped off. Or at least I didn�t feel that way, but I do get a discount on a book that was already marked down because of its used status. But still, this is basically an extremely overpriced �zine, and I�m more than a little annoyed that the publishers would do something so chintzy just to make a buck. They couldn�t issue a collection of stories and artwork instead of this cheap quickie? I�m sure they could, because I know there�s at least one other story printed like this. And you know what? I sure it won�t take long before they do print some overpriced collection.
In the meantime, this was easy reading to sit outside while on campus waiting for my class to start. There was something bothering me about the people strolling past, but I wasn�t really able to put it into words. It�s just that 90 percent of the student population are such fashion slaves that you wonder how they can have any independent thought. Over and over, I watched as girls wore the same outfit consisting of a babydoll shirt that was missing one sleeve, midriff exposed to show a strategically placed jewel crammed in their navels (after all, piercing is sooooooo 1998).
Sure, most of these outfits can be nice to look at, particularly since I�m horn dog. But I also attend classes with these people, and it doesn�t take long to realize that the only thought in their heads is preoccupied with what to wear. I don�t care how sexy you dress, if you�ve got the brain matter of a very small rock, you�re not going to be very interesting OR attractive. And since I�m noticing that the outfits are getting smuttier and smuttier, I can�t help but think that they�re dressing like this because it�s the only way they feel they can get attention. It�s a matter of saying, �Hey! I may be dumb as a sack of hammers, but check out this rack!�
Is it like that around campuses everywhere? De Anza had a certain amount of these people, but there seemed to be a lot more at that campus who were actually interested in learning. Were they the exception, simply because they were at a cheap-o community college, or is it just that SJSU is adding a lot of hooker classes to the curriculum? Tubetop Shirts 101? Advanced Midriff? I�m not sure I have an answer to that.
Nice rack, though.
