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Above: Cover of Whisky Defense by Clifton Kirkpatrick Meador, Nexus Press, 2001.
A story about the history, culture, and whisky of Scotland, the clever text of Whisky Defense is paired with hauntingly digitized images of Scotland. The colophon notes, "The text is set in New Caledonia (get it?)."
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"Black and oily, almost viscous in a greasy way, the peat emerges from the peat bog. As it lies in the ground it is mostly water, 90 percent water. Diggers cut out chunks and pitch them up to dry on the banks around the diggings; there it lies until it is dry enough to stack into little tripods. When it is finally completely dry, it is taken home and stacked into a neat pile, carefully constructed to shed water.
We ourselves are mostly water, with just enough solid material to keep the water together. We emerge from the womb and are thrown into bassinettes until we are dry enough to take home. From there we are stacked in schools until needed.
We drink whisky when the water inside us gets cold, or lonely, or just sad" (pp.34-35). |