Friday Five: 5 Best Things Mel Bosworth Has Read Recently

Some of you may know Mel Bosworth for being awesome. Others of you may know him for writing this cool lil' chapbook called When The Cats Razzed The Chickens. Some of you may know him for both reasons.

Some of you may also know him for popping up on the Outside Writer's Collective and on his own blog, Eddie Socko.

Some of you may not know him at all, but at least you'll know the 5 best things that he's read recently:


1) I Am Richard Simmons by Ben Tanzer. I carried this MLP chapbook in my pocket for a while to whip out whenever I ran into anyone. I may have scared a person or two, rummaging around in my front pocket, saying things like, “You’ve gotta see this!” but overall things went well. No face slaps. I keep the artifact in my “reading room” now because I enjoy reading fast, fun things in my “reading room,” and I am Richard Simmons is exactly that: fast and fun. It’s like a little ampersand-fueled train of good times.





2) "'Driving While Mexican' by Chuck Shepherd" was the header for the recent “News of the Weird” section in the local A & E publication, The Valley Advocate. The story went something like this: Mexican drivers in Dallas were being ticketed for being “non-English speaking drivers.” The phrase was part of a check-list that appeared on the officers’ in-car computers. Sadly, the officers’ issuing the tickets misinterpreted the phrase as being an “offense” instead of a mere indicator that the drivers didn’t speak English. Um, wow.


3) Museum of F***ed by David Peak is a tight, vivid little collection of shorts about urban decay put out by Warm Milk Printing Press. The writing style is clear and crisp. I like clear and crisp. Makes me feel clear and crisp.



4) Charactered Pieces by Caleb J. Ross. Man, oh man. This dark and beautiful chapbook released by OW Press is a “wow,” but in a much better sense than the “wow” from #2. It’s a collection of short stories about twisted characters doing twisted things, and it’s sticky. It sticks to your brain like peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth. I think I walked around clicking for a while after I read this.

5) Play on the Beach and Stay on the Beach. This is from a postcard I received from a friend. I keep it tacked to my bulletin board, right in front of me. I read it daily. It makes me grin. These days it helps me remember that there are places out there that are warm, sunny, and not buried with snow. Someday I will indeed play on the beach and stay on the beach. We all will, and it will be grand.

Ed. note: Some of you may notice that the above video ran in yesterday's Bosworth feature, was removed and now appears here. I'll tell you one thing--if you think we actually have an editor to make this note, you're more gullible than anyone has ever told you.