FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ETHAN CUNNINGHAM
Q::
Why did you do it? A: There is a place in Spain where the old ladies of the village gather by the well to exchange local gossip. This place exists in every Spanish village in the south. It is called a marcador de posición. I made that up. I made that up because distraction is preferable to excavating a scab for the answer. Q: Why did you do it? A: Let me ask you this, have you ever climbed through a cave where the farther in you went the narrower it became? First, the walls at your head slope together and you duck down. Next the floor sloughs away under your feet, wet and slick so it’s hard to stay upright. When you’re far enough inside and your lamp suffocates, so do you. Q: Why did you do it? A: I am carriage of calamity
tessellating rattle
machete nudniks
an arrogant sheen of algebraic scratches upon deceptive asphalt call me belligerent glass call me chaos
I tear holes in space
Q: Why did you do it? A: As a father, the worst thing I can imagine happening to my kid is what I did to me. Does that answer your question? Q: Why did you do it? A: Why does anyone do it? Q: Why did you do it? A: In acting, one of the techniques we use is to summon some past feeling to leverage in the present moment, like dropping a fishing line and hauling to the surface that first few seconds when you learned your brother had died. I call it the “place of pain.” I call it this, because that’s where all the hurt balls up in the center of the earth beneath the crust. It’s the hidden creamy guts of an opaque chocolate truffle. So rich it will shred you. 18