5 local sites you should be visiting
5 local sites you should be visiting
by Kristoffer Tigue
Data, data, data. The internet is ubiquitous and overbearing. Everyone and their aunt has a blog and praise Jebus, you simply don’t have the time to check out every friend’s personal feelings and creative expressions. However there is light in the haze. There are some proverbial needles in that stack that are worth the search, and luckily for you, we did the heavy lifting. Here are 5 recommended local websites you probably don’t know about that are worth the trouble of perusing.
1. Hazel & Wren
Paper Darts set the standard for local literary magazines, both in print and online since they popped out of inexistence back in 2009, but that didn’t stop local sisters Amanda and Melissa Wray from jumping into the mix. Adequately armed with their pen-names, Hazel & Wren, and a pinch of wit and a critical eye, they launched their online literary magazine in early 2011.
Armchair Essays: Local author John Jodzio’s Get In If You Want To Live is laugh-out-loud funny
4 out of 5 stars
Local author John Jodzio’s Get In If You Want To Live is laugh-out-loud funny
by Evan Giannobile
(Pictures courtesy of Paper Darts)
John Jodzio’s Get In If You Want To Live is weird. Not the ‘weird!’ whispered by children during an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but a weirdness that flaunts itself, embraces discomfort, and utilizes the absurd. As a collection of short-shorts with long titles, Jodzio delves into a mystical world where the idiosyncrasies of kidnappers, Stockholm-syndromers, drunken bears, and forlorn suicidal mattresses take precedence.
Paper Darts published the book last year, but even before that, Jodzio had been getting around. His work has been featured in national publications such as McSweeny’s and Opium, but also locally, such as METRO Magazine, Minnesota Monthly, Vita.mn and The Tangential.
His form is that of the short-short, a boiled-down short story which places emphasis on brevity. So don’t expect some fully hashed out story where the main character explains what he or she learned at the end. Jodzio takes a figurative dump on the school of blunt didacticism, and more power to him. His stories read like fantasy mixed with grotesque back-alley harlotry and moral degeneracy, and the result is a surprisingly beautiful collection of bizarre vignettes perfect for those of us with fetid imaginations and ailing attention spans.
