The Turnip Truck(s)

11/08/2023

10/17/2021

Thanks to talented contributors, “Belief” is one of The Best American Essays’ notable special issues of 2021, which includes Paul Cockeram's notable essay “Shapes Not Living to My Ken.”

“Belief” is one of The Best American Essays’ notable special issues of 2021, which includes Paul Cockeram’s notable essay “Shapes Not Living to My Ken.” Other contributors include Guilherme Bergamini, Clare Harmon, Jen Hirt, J. Kinnison, John Modern, Daniel Povinelli, and Geoff Wyss.

10/08/2020

"...a Donald Trump presidency may in fact be a work of high genius in the subgenre of performance art known as trolling. Here I am out of my depth. I have as meager an understanding of the forms and conventions of trolling, as little chance of judging its quality, as the average viewer of Fox News would have of understanding Gertrude Stein." -- Geoff Wyss, "Stereo" http://www.theturnips.net/geoff-wyss

09/22/2020

On National Voter Registration Day we share “100 Lines” by Claiborne Rice: https://buff.ly/3mKIXS4

BETTER PRESIDENTS I WOULD VOTE FOR: 1. A flaming bag of poo 2. A barrel of radioactive waste 3. A dumpster fire 4. A syringe filled with Covid-19 and HIV 5. Any invading alien

07/05/2020

Check out the brand new im-possible podcast! In season one we discuss America(s), starting with Nationalism. Come think im-possible thoughts with us! https://buff.ly/3iAhrF4

06/11/2020

Written first as a poem, "Strange Fruit" was poet-activist Abel Meeropol's protest against racism.

"Strange Fruit" (Abel Meeropol 1937).  Written first as a poem, "Strange Fruit" was poet-activist Abel Meeropol's protest against racism. Inspired by the disturbing photograph of the 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smi

06/10/2020

Today's protests should be no surprise when we look back on our history.

The events in Charlottesville, Virginia highlight the possible epidemic of the growing cultural production of ignorance. Historians of science Robert N. Proctor and Jimena Canales have proposed that we are now so inundated with false informational venues through digital media that we need a complime

06/09/2020

You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (What you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights!

That this is the official song of Amnesty International pretty much says it all. This Bob Marley masterpiece (co-written with Peter Tosh) was recorded for The Wailers sixth album Burnin’ (released in 1973, the last with Tosh and Bunny Wailer). We include the performance of this song at London’s ...

06/09/2020

In such a ludicrous, contemporary situation we need to reassess the role of critique as argued by Bruno Latour: “The critic is not the one who debunks, but the one who assembles. The critic is not the one who lifts the rugs from under the feet of the naïve believers, but the one who offers the participants arenas in which to gather. The critic is not the one who alternates haphazardly between anti-fetishism and positivism like the drunk iconoclast drawn by Goya, but the one for whom, if something is constructed, then it means it is fragile and thus in great need of care and caution.” Learn more at The Turnip Truck(s). https://buff.ly/2MFYuSu

One of the great ironies of today’s post-truth age is that it functions through the grotesque appropriation of the postmodern/poststructuralist questioning of reality: e.g., global warming is a “mere construction.” The main apparatus through which false truths are disseminated and what fuels t...

06/08/2020

The Turnip Truck(s) seeks submissions for our ongoing Writers Resist series, which addresses current political events and how these events have affected our lives, communities, and environment(s). Essays, poems, stories or letters up to 1,500 words should offer some critique of and insight into the current political climate. Visit our website for details. https://buff.ly/2A6qQTr

06/07/2020

Belief in an afterlife directly influences our different ethical codes for behavior and life purpose(s). It simultaneously forms and is formed by our living, breathing experiences. To read more about the power of the afterlife, and to review our submission guidelines for our forthcoming issue Belief, visit our website today. Deadline for submissions is June 16. https://buff.ly/30hRseL

05/25/2020

Read the history of monuments, and be sure to submit your poetry, prose, or art for our forthcoming print issue on .

Since at least 100,000 years ago, humans have been attracted to certain places that are associated with extraordinary events. These centers [1]  were perhaps first associated with supernatural appearances, sacred powers, or merely areas were sacred presence was manifested. During the Neolit

05/22/2020

Published today, Guilherme Bergamini's evocative photographs of couches and memory.

Reporter photographic and visual artist, Guilherme Bergamini is Brazilian and graduated in Journalism. For more than two decades, he has developed projects with photography and the various narrative possibilities that art offers. The works of the artist dialogue between memory and social political c

05/14/2020

Read Turnips contributor Brandon Barker's take on the Tooth Fairy and the belief that she is an essential worker, and don't forget to head over to The Turnip Truck(s) and submit work for the forthcoming issue on . The new deadline is June 16.

During this unsettling time, global leaders have assured children and adults alike that the tooth fairy, free from the risk of infection, is indeed an essential worker.

03/30/2020

If you're in need of some virtual travel during this time of isolation, take a ride on The Turnip Truck(s) and learn the history of fake news, and don't forget to submit your work for the forthcoming print issue on .

The reaction to Orson Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air radio adaption of H. G. Wells  The   War of the Worlds  is well-known and has been studied as perhaps the first instance of fictive media. [1]  On another plane than realism in fiction and cinema, fictive

03/23/2020

Simply for your viewing pleasure in this posthuman age of self-isolation, Data's "Ode to Spot," from Star Trek The Next Generation.

In this episode, Data starts experimenting with poetry. This one is his Ode to his cat, Spot. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 5 'Schisms' Bu...

03/22/2020

It’s easy to confine belief to the religious and spiritual realms, but the placebo’s powerful effect reminds us there are sciences behind belief as well. Visit our website to learn more about the placebo effect, and submit your artwork, poetry, and prose to our forthcoming issue on Belief. https://buff.ly/33DZX3f

03/15/2020

Sink your teeth into this week's post and learn how America's belief in the Tooth Fairy evolved, and be sure to submit work for the forthcoming print issue on belief.

The loss of one’s first baby tooth has been universally recognized as a rite of passage for millennia—well before the Tooth Fairy began leaving coins beneath the pillows of children young enough to believe in Santa Claus. And compared to the long tradition of Saint Nick, the Tooth Fairy’s root...

02/23/2020

Learn how belief in a currency's value is necessary for the economy, and be sure to submit work for The Turnip Truck(s) forthcoming print issue.

While the proverb “a bad penny always turns up” refers to an undesirable person or thing that will always return or repeat, this metaphor of the “bad penny” stems from the very real problem of counterfeit or debased coins finding their way into our currencies. King Alyattes of Lydia (now Tur...

02/03/2020

Will the next sports miracle happen during ? Put on last year's socks and lucky jersey and find out after this halftime message about religion, sports, and the forthcoming issue on belief:

The relationship between sports and religion in America goes beyond praying for your team and common superstitions. American sports have a rich history of specific teams and iconic moments that resonated and continue to resonate with religious connotations. A sports  fan  originate

01/20/2020

Today, this one man’s abundance of human spirit continues to inspire activists to resist oppression and fight for the freedom and quality of life that all human beings deserve. So, celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. with Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday,” a song guaranteed to make you move and think.

As he stood on the second floor balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he’d stayed to support the black sanitary public works employees who’d been on strike for higher wages and better treatment, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot to death. The world changed that day, April 4, ...

01/19/2020

Learn why the octopus hoax has too many legs to stand on, and submit your artwork, poetry, and prose for our forthcoming double issue, Belief. The submission deadline is April 1.

Lyle Zapato yanked more than a few legs in 1998, when he launched his website and campaign to  “Save The Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.”  The website, complete  with photographs and information about the endangered cephalopod and its habitat, was con

01/12/2020

Descartes believed that thought proved our existence, but was he right? Visit our website to find out, and submit your artwork, poetry, and prose for our forthcoming double issue, Belief. The submission deadline is April 1.

According to Descartes, cogito ergo sum , “I think therefore I am,” is the one and final indisputable truth for any human subject. As he put it in Discourse on Method , published in 1637, “we cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt…” In other words, it is possible to believe in the do...

12/22/2019

After receiving countless inquiries from perplexed and angry viewers of Animal Planet's Mermaids: The Body Found, NOAA issued a formal response: “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.” But is this just another mermaid cover up? Find out at The Turnip Truck(s).

Although Thaler makes a great point—using real institutions in fake documentaries fuels the distrust of those institutions, which provides anti-intellectual movements a stronger, louder voice— what about the artistic merit and the deeper truth  Mermaids  reveals?

12/13/2019

This Friday the 13th get down with Stevie Wonder as you read about the roots of superstition. Then kiss a rabbit's foot and submit your art, prose, or poetry to our forthcoming double issue, Belief. Visit our website for submission guidelines. The deadline is April 1, 2020.

‘Tis the season for superstitions: black cats cross our paths around Halloween; we play tug-of-war with the turkey’s wishbone at Thanksgiving; and now, December presents us with Friday the 13th, a day we’ve considered highly unlucky ever since October 13, 1307 when King Philip IV and Pope Clem...

12/06/2019

Congrats to Turnips contributor Rebbecca Brown for the recent publication of her prose poetry collection Mouth Trap. Purchase a copy of Mouth Trap at Arc Pair Press :

12/05/2019

The Turnip Truck(s) is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming double issue on belief. Read the submission guidelines for details: https://buff.ly/363bdGB

08/07/2019

Jen Hirt (author page) ’s “The Bureau of Codes Staff Directory” invites the connection between signs, codes, clues, and detective work. Read her essay in The Turnip Truck(s) codes issue:

08/07/2019

John Modern’s “The Human Code” tracks the attempts, beginning mid-century, to understand the human organism as basically an information processing machine. Read his piece in The Turnip Truck(s) codes issue:

08/07/2019

The images of Jes Turco's replicate these notions of inside-out as codes of movement, not merely as interior-exterior, but as an organic system. View more of her work in The Turnip Truck(s) codes issue: https://buff.ly/2Zw9zug