I got an odd piece of mail the other day–an envelope postmarked in Austin, Texas, addressed in a florid red hand, and containing two tracts entitled Five Simple Steps to Greater Joy in This World of Sorrow. The tract opens with the instruction: “The first thing you need to do is this: Let this document fall.”
These were the work of one Wayne Alan Brenner, a playwright, novelist, and editor of the Austin Chronicle. And they’re … well, they’re odd and inspiring and fabulous. An Armadillo Podcast about Mr. Brenner’s project explains … nothing. But it’s worth hearing anyway.
I don’t know how exactly I ended up on Mr. Brenner’s pamphlet distribution list–I haven’t been to Austin since I was about fourteen, and surely he doesn’t know that I collect the religious tracts that this pamphlet both sends up and emulates–but I’m glad I got them. And I already passed one along; we were invited to our neighbor’s birthday party, and on the way down the alley I discovered one of the pamphlets in my pocket. Since I was about to take advantage of Steve’s generosity, drink his beer and listen to his music, I thought I should give him a little something. So I pressed the pamphlet into his hand and said calmly and clearly, just as instructed by the pamphlet itself, “I really want you to have this.”
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