<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">Alive At The End Of The World</span></font><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font></div><div><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">The End of the World was a nightclub.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Drag queens with machetes and rhinestoned</span></font></p><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">machine guns guarded the red and impassable<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">door on Friday nights. Just a look at the crowd,</span></font></p><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">all dressed up and swaying outside, made people<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">want to yell the truth about themselves to anyone</span></font></p><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">who’d listen, but no one heard. The End of the World<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">was loud. The End of the World leaked music</span></font></p><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">like radiation, and we loved the neon echo, even<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">though it taunted us or maybe because it taunted us:</span></font></p><div class="Container-inuIHp suLzc" data-event-boundary="click" data-event-click="{"pattern":"CNEInterludeEmbed"}" data-include-experiments="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"></div><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">kids leaning out of windows hours after bedtime,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">cabdrivers debating fares at the curb just for an excuse</span></font></p><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">to linger, pastors who’d pause at the corner and vow<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">that if they ever got inside, they’d burn it all down.</span></font></p><p class="paywall" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"> - Saeed Jones</span></font></p><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font></div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;">"Be joyful though you have considered all the facts."</span></font><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal;"> - Wendell Berry</span></font></div></div></div></div></body></html>