June 5th, 2010
Zoom I became a US Bank customer in 2003 when I moved to Ames, Iowa for college. I was lured into their Lincoln Way branch with the promise of a branded frisbee (or was it a water bottle?) if I opened a student checking account. The initial supply of checks lasted until the fall of 2008, eventually exhausted by rent payments, utility bills and checks written to college roommates with subjects such as “For the BJ…thanks!” (The final example above is one in a series of efforts to write a subject line so embarrassing, the receiving party wouldn’t have the nerve to cash it. Perhaps because my friends didn’t have much money, or perhaps because they had even less shame, this technique never once succeeded.) When it was time to reorder, I chatted with Sarah and asked her to pick out new checks for me. Me: Hey, respond to what I wrote about ArgentinaMe: also pick out some checks for meMe: I’ll buy whatever you pickMe: checksinthemail.comMe: swear it Sarah: what’re these checks forSarah: personal use? Me: YeahMe: personalMe: not businessMe: god I wouldn’t let you do that  Sarah: :-D Me: not that I write checks to customers anyway   Sarah: hmSarah: http://secure.checksinthemail.com/product.aspx?lineid=12&productid=1848Sarah: whaddaya think? Me: is it random kittensMe: ? Sarah: yeah kittens in purses n shit Me: hahaMe: OKMe: done With check writing now limited to monthly rent, my supply of Rachel Hale kitten checks is still ample. And once monthly I get to look at a new kitten picture and smile. And be happy. Because why not have kitten checks, right? Sarah’s first art show opens tomorrow in Dubuque, Iowa. Titled “Keep on the Sunny Side,” it’s a chance for Sarah to unveil what she was doing every day last fall in that barely furnished apartment near the UT campus. There’s a Dave Eggers interview floating around the Internet this week that discusses “selling out.” Here Eggers discusses his literary magazine McSweeney’s: McSweeney’s has no political goal. We only want to publish work that we like, and to do so with an attention to the craft of book and magazine production. Art made with mission statements is not art. I don’t think Sarah paints to make a point. And I don’t think she has a grand mission. She just paints things that make her happy (like Trees in Love or Miss Peacock) in hopes that they’ll make other people happy. Kinda like bigger, prettier, more expensive Rachel Hale kitten checks… Congratulations on your first show Sarah. I hope you sell out.

I became a US Bank customer in 2003 when I moved to Ames, Iowa for college. I was lured into their Lincoln Way branch with the promise of a branded frisbee (or was it a water bottle?) if I opened a student checking account.

The initial supply of checks lasted until the fall of 2008, eventually exhausted by rent payments, utility bills and checks written to college roommates with subjects such as “For the BJ…thanks!”

(The final example above is one in a series of efforts to write a subject line so embarrassing, the receiving party wouldn’t have the nerve to cash it. Perhaps because my friends didn’t have much money, or perhaps because they had even less shame, this technique never once succeeded.)

When it was time to reorder, I chatted with Sarah and asked her to pick out new checks for me.

Me: Hey, respond to what I wrote about Argentina
Me: also pick out some checks for me
Me: I’ll buy whatever you pick
Me: checksinthemail.com
Me: swear it

Sarah: what’re these checks for
Sarah: personal use?

Me: Yeah
Me: personal
Me: not business
Me: god I wouldn’t let you do that 

Sarah: :-D

Me: not that I write checks to customers anyway  

Sarah: hm
Sarah: http://secure.checksinthemail.com/product.aspx?lineid=12&productid=1848
Sarah: whaddaya think?

Me: is it random kittens
Me: ?

Sarah: yeah kittens in purses n shit

Me: haha
Me: OK
Me: done

With check writing now limited to monthly rent, my supply of Rachel Hale kitten checks is still ample. And once monthly I get to look at a new kitten picture and smile. And be happy. Because why not have kitten checks, right?

Sarah’s first art show opens tomorrow in Dubuque, Iowa. Titled “Keep on the Sunny Side,” it’s a chance for Sarah to unveil what she was doing every day last fall in that barely furnished apartment near the UT campus.

There’s a Dave Eggers interview floating around the Internet this week that discusses “selling out.” Here Eggers discusses his literary magazine McSweeney’s:

McSweeney’s has no political goal. We only want to publish work that we like, and to do so with an attention to the craft of book and magazine production. Art made with mission statements is not art.

I don’t think Sarah paints to make a point. And I don’t think she has a grand mission. She just paints things that make her happy (like Trees in Love or Miss Peacock) in hopes that they’ll make other people happy. Kinda like bigger, prettier, more expensive Rachel Hale kitten checks…

Congratulations on your first show Sarah. I hope you sell out.

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@timhackbarth

The sub-par, yet slowly improving missives of Tim Hackbarth, man about town in Austin, TX.