Thomas Claburn from i feel better after i type to you In 2006, America Online (AOL) accidentally released the search queries from some 20 million of its customers. The users were anonymous, identif ed by numerical tags, and no IP addresses were disclosed, though many were easily identif ed with a quick triangulation of data. Thomas Claburn quickly recognized the literary potential of this cache, publishing the data from one user with only minor formatting changes to aid readability. As Claburn explains: Within the third of the ten f les of user search queries AOL mistakenly released (user-ct-test-collection-03), there’s a poem of sorts. Between May 7 and May 31 of this year, AOL user 23187425 submitted a series of more than 8,200 queries with no evident intention of f nding anything—only a handful of the entries are paired with a search results URL. Rather, the author’s series of queries forms a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy. Whether it’s fact or f ction, confession or invention, the search monologue is strangely compelling. It’s a uniquely temporal literary form in that the server time stamps make the passage of time integral to the storytelling. It could be the beginning of a new genre of writing, or simply an aberration. But it does beg further explanation. What circumstances prompted the author to converse thus with AOL’s search engine? Tuesday 1:25 am 2006-05-09 01:25:15 break in 2006-05-09 01:26:00 joseph i have a question 2006-05-09 01:27:27 all the years why did you work out of delphi 2006-05-09 01:28:36 could have gone to detriot 2006-05-09 01:29:40 why you make delphi kettering your base 138 2006-05-09 01:30:09 your base 2006-05-09 01:31:13 joe why 2006-05-09 01:31:56 you choose kettering 2006-05-09 01:33:01 had opportunity 2006-05-09 01:33:26 to leave 2006-05-09 01:34:19 start there but could have left 2006-05-09 01:34:54 know you started there but could have left 2006-05-09 01:35:28 why did you stay 2006-05-09 01:36:14 but why 2006-05-09 01:37:46 cause of me 2006-05-09 01:38:48 last saw you bicycle 2006-05-09 01:39:31 why didn’t you tell me who you wer 2006-05-09 01:41:07 was not to tell me 2006-05-09 01:41:47 orders 2006-05-09 01:42:38 jt order 2006-05-09 01:43:59 was thinking 2006-05-09 01:44:38 on line to ask 2006-05-09 01:45:17 no one would tell me 2006-05-09 01:46:11 mean no 2006-05-09 01:47:45 told of everyone else 2006-05-09 01:48:20 keller like you 2006-05-09 01:48:44 all thrash 2006-05-09 01:49:24 told of them 2006-05-09 01:50:27 wasn’t my type 2006-05-09 01:50:49 was not my type 2006-05-09 01:51:32 my type is rare 2006-05-09 01:52:06 hard to fi nd 2006-05-09 01:53:10 pay no attention to every man 2006-05-09 01:54:24 fi nd one who treat me good an stay 2006-05-09 01:55:22 look toward you 2006-05-09 01:56:07 time will depart us 2006-05-09 01:56:43 of not seeing 2006-05-09 01:57:39 will depart us 2006-05-09 01:58:57 on to ask 2006-05-09 01:59:49 music will not help me work 2006-05-09 02:00:24 take hands 2006-05-09 02:00:56 together 2006-05-09 02:01:47 my suit come tommorrow 2006-05-09 02:02:25 purse that match was gone T omas Claburn 139 2006-05-09 02:03:40 say no 2006-05-09 02:04:11 altogether 2006-05-09 02:05:43 last two years white 2006-05-09 02:07:24 fl ower gold 2yrs ago 2006-05-09 02:08:06 gold fl ower 2 yrs ago 2006-05-09 02:08:33 white before that 2006-05-09 02:09:01 a pattern 2006-05-09 02:10:02 look that way 2006-05-09 02:10:49 gold suit picture turn backward 2006-05-09 02:11:40 the goldsuit picture turn backward 2006-05-09 02:12:53 all my picture 2006-05-09 02:13:51 frame broke high school picture 2006-05-09 02:14:43 out of all mine 2006-05-09 02:15:41 go to bed 2006-05-09 02:16:16 if i work hard i don’t think off 2006-05-09 02:17:29 left my computer down 2006-05-09 02:17:59 work hard 2006-05-09 02:19:11 get some sleep 2006-05-09 02:19:44 work tommorr 2006-05-09 02:20:44 bless night 2006-05-09 02:21:20 to tired to look at my clothes 2006-05-09 02:21:51 i was to tired to look at my clothes 2006-05-09 02:22:42 i have no one as song say 2006-05-09 02:23:12 have noone 2006-05-09 02:23:56 one warning 2006-05-09 02:25:07 if you ever fi nd someone never go though that process 2006-05-09 02:26:39 i tell the truth 2006-05-09 02:27:11 its to long 2006-05-09 02:27:46 will lose love 2006-05-09 02:29:25 that for a women with maids gardener and all 2006-05-09 02:29:50 laughing 2006-05-09 02:30:24 bought my own 2006-05-09 02:31:11 not a poor woman 2006-05-09 02:31:52 i have to work 2006-05-09 02:32:19 i have to work 2006-05-09 02:32:56 no dates no fun 2006-05-09 02:34:10 ready for bed 2006-05-09 02:34:37 not across 140 AGAINST EXPRESSION 2006-05-09 02:35:09 not a cross 2006-05-09 02:35:38 what if we date 2006-05-09 02:36:13 see no 2006-05-09 02:36:57 see you Tuesday 1:28pm 2006-05-09 13:28:28 ashley licks 2006-05-09 13:28:28 ashley licks 2006-05-09 13:28:28 ashley licks 2006-05-09 13:28:28 ashley licks 2006-05-09 13:34:19 roxy T omas Claburn 141 Ara Shirinyan from Your Country Is Great Armenian-American writer Ara Shirinyan’s book Your Country Is Great (New York: Futurepoem, 2008) is a meditation on identity, nationalism, and globalism, as he expresses in words that are not his own. For this piece, he named every country in the world, organized them from A to Z, Googled the phrase “[country name] is great,” and then hand-selected and sorted the results by nation. He then lineated the comments, with each stanza representing another opinion. The result is a multi- national Baedeker of user-driven content and opinion. Unsourced and unsigned, the piece is by turns ugly and gorgeous, helpful and harmful, truthful and misleading, rele- vant and completely irrelevant, all while bringing a cool and rational methodology to an inherently hysterical forum. Collapsing the space between the real world and the World Wide Web, this work asks, What is local? What is national? What is multi- cultural? Instead of accepting current notions of language as a medium of dif eren- tiation, Shirinyan persuasively demonstrates its leveling quality, demolishing meaning into a puddle of platitudes in a time when everything is great, yet nothing is great. Afghanistan Is Great Afghanistan is great, but much smaller than previously assumed. the need for education in Afghanistan is great and must be met quickly, need for food in Afghanistan is great, 523 well-acquainted with unique problems facing Afghanistan. T e need for tough, dependable, locally repairable wheelchairs in Afghanistan is great. A mountain. An airplane. Aviation in Afghanistan is great fun. Pipeline via Afghanistan is great. T ere is no question that Allah’s knowledge and love of Afghanistan is great even as he regrets the limits of his understanding. Albania Is Great Albania is great. I missed that place a lot. I got off ered cigarettes and alcohol by like everyone I knew and some people I didn’t know. Albania is great! Not quite as third-world as parts of Africa, but not exactly Michigan either if ykwim. I liked everything about my stay and i just wanted to let you know that Albania is GREAT!!! 524 AGAINST EXPRESSION Albania is great as a communsist country or democratic, either way, albania is just the best. U aint from belgrade, youd feel our pain and not say how albania is great. educate ur self: Hiking, camping, mountain-climbing, hunting—North Albania is great for all of this. T e Italian infl uence in Albania is great, many speak Italian, watch Italian TV. T e historical ties between Italy and Albania are very strong. I know you love your country but please stop telling us that Albania is great. Like I said, give us the worldly achievements of Albania.