All right, fiction fans. I know we said we’d run the winners of our Ridiculously Short Fiction Contest in next week’s issue, June 19, but we lied. OK, we didn’t really lie, we were telling the truth (to the best of our knowledge). But, like many things in the publishing world, reality has since changed. Now you’ll have to wait one more week to read tiny tales about streetwalkers, sour relationships and spaceships told in 119 words or less. Use the extra week to prepare your favorite reading spot, ’cause on June 26 the best short short short stories this side of the Mississippi hit stands.
Trappings
Linda Durham from Santa Fe— Trappings participant
Across the street from the Alibi office is the Kress building, which hasn’t been occupied by anyone since Love N’ Dancing was filmed there last year. Just last week, two large posters of women were placed in the windows of the otherwise empty storefront. One banner features a woman in traditional Native American clothes, the other in a va-va-voom black dress with stilettos set to kill. Both women stand proudly as an accompanying paragraph explains why what they’re wearing gives them confidence. These women aren’t part of a mysterious ad campaign but a public art installation, and there are many more powerful women to come. Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing is a national traveling exhibit created by Two Girls Working, the title of a collaboration by artists Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki. Two Girls Working interviewed more than 530 women in 15 states, asking them what clothing they wear makes them feel powerful. Two Girls Working took photos and snippets of the interviews to create Trappings , which will be partially on display at 516 Arts with elements all around Downtown. The official opening is this Friday, June 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 516 Arts (516 Central SW), but the public installations (including the aforementioned banners and panels on the D-Ride buses) can already be viewed. The two-story installation will be on display at 516 Arts through Aug. 16. For more details, call 242-1445 or visit 516arts.org.
