Cult of Americana

Tonight-is-Friday-September-1st is Anna Klos’ first piece for Cult of Americana

Tonight is Friday, September 1, 2017. I was followed home from my usual walk from the California Blue Line L station almost all the way to my house. On the L ride home, this stranger had pestered me with normal street harassment questions like “Hey, what’s your name?” and “Do you have a boyfriend?” and “Why aren’t you talking to me? You don’t even want to get to know me?” as if I owed it to him to give him the time of day which, at that point, was 1:30am and that made everything about 10 times creepier than the normal occasional heckle I get at 4:30pm commuting in to work.

I was a block from my house when he caught up to me. I was walking quickly and I assumed he was just some person walking home too, until I heard his feet speed up. Have you heard that sound before and felt your heart speed up way too fast? Your step gets quicker, almost as if you’re about to start sprinting at any second. You can feel the energy of the other person behind you, like a terrifying heat that sends prickles flashing in waves all over your skin.

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Over the past few years, three COA authors have been featured in Write City Magazine, the online publication of the Chicago Writers Association. Most recently our own malcontent Augie Truesdale’s ramble about dog-earin’ and cliches and the shark eating the marlin were published in June. Check Augie’s piece out here. Try to guess how many shots of Jim Beam rye it took to write it.

COA author and Write City contributor Monte Verde

Monte Verde, back when he did such things. Playing dress-up, I mean.

The Chicago Writers Association has published a first-ever print compilation of some of the finest WCM pieces of the past half-decade. We’re excited to announce that C. D. “Charlie” Monte Verde (twice) and Erick Sierra (once) both made the cut! Those pieces have been featured on our site as well. We’ll republish one of them in an upcoming week.

COA author and Write City contributor Sierra

The good Dr. Sierra

Don’t play the guessing game on which piece we’ll re-post! Purchase the first-ever Write City Review journal, one copy for $15 (click this link) or two for $20 (click this link).

Happy summer, people!