Last night Every Letter in The Alphabet hosted a gang reading of the Lebedev-led people-eating scene in Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. I went as a visitor, but upon arrival was asked by organizers Hadley + Maxwell if I would read the part of Prince Myshkyn, as the first Prince Myshkyn, Damian Petryshyn, was up to his neck in food prep.

When the time came, readers were given name tags and books, with the various parts marked off. But in reading along, it became apparent that the translation I was given differed from the other readers. It was strange reading one translation while listening to another. Was that the object? Part of it?

Damian did a nice job with the food, all of it Russian. Piroshky, cabbage rolls, rye bread, caviar…

As Damian was prepping I spoke with Kevin Schmidt about his trip up north, where, as a point of departure, he installed a billboard. I would have asked the content of that billboard had Kevin not been so enthusiastic about his dealings, how in the north a maybe is contingent on a complex cluster of yesses.

I wanted to hear more but it was time for the reading.