(Ryan is redesigning the MPEmpire site and while perusing it, I came across this old gem from an old issue of Modest Proposal Magazine.)

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
was a complete accident. Minutes before Modest Proposal #4 was going to be declared done, a barista accidentally bumped into her co-worker who then spilt a hot sugary café latte all over our Toshiba laptop. The result was a fried computer, a 40-hour setback, and first-degree burns.

HOW WE INTERPRETED WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
was everything was going really well on Earth and both God and Satan were bored. They called a truce and decided to play their favorite game, “Who can make two grown men cry in public harder?” Satan won by making a cup of his favorite coffee (cream, sugar and, the Modest Proposal laptop). He had help from his demon-coffee urchins whom he personally schooled in the art of a lack of balance and general evil. One of them is pointing to a dotted swirl of smoke, which is what hope resembles when it disappears.

art by Anna Gallaspy