First Day in Chile

Chilean poet Nicanor Parra, brother of the late nueva canción (like American folk-rock 1960's) artist Violeta Parra who wrote Gracias a la Vida which was later covered by Joan Baez, Roberta Flack and others, opened an exhibit about four months ago in Santiago, Chile, many of the items amounting to satirical quips about sex, culture or imperialism. For example, a glass Coca-Cola container. The caption, written in Nicanor Parra's playful scribble: "Message in a Bottle."

The exhibit was controversial for some reason, I think it was the sexual content. Also perhaps because it featured cardboard cutouts of all the former presidents of Chile being hung in effigy. (After a tour, Chile's current president Bachelet asked to be included. But despite her hip and cutting edge sense of humor, she's not that cool; she's also been known to humor barney, which is making a frightening comeback in Chile. This must end).

Anyway, another item in the exhibit was a blown-up public service announcement from the Partnership for a Drug Free America, in which Nicanor crossed out the word "cocaine" everytime it appeared, and replaced it with "poetry."

So I've decided to apply the same methodology to Jack Handy's somewhat-recent New Yorker piece, making it a little less subtle. I know he was thinking about Chile when he wrote it. So here's how to play: In your mind, cross out "Hell" every time it appears, and replace it with "Chile." You'll find it's a pretty on-target article.