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Barn Dance "Barn Dance" is the illustration for a story that I wrote several years ago called "Barn To Be Wild," perhaps my funniest piece of published fiction. I grew up in and have always lived in cities and have only the most rudimentary understanding of what transpires in rural settings. But I had an idea that the boys out in the nation's farmlands might not be the frightfully boorish dolts they are often depicted as ("Green Acres" without the funny), and decided to create a package (drawing with text) that would incorporate a character who vented such prejudices (although he was a product of that environment) against his contemporaries. The drawing was much more somber and direct than the charming tale and that's why they don't share the same title. At the time, the publisher paid for two pages of art if I bled over the gutter margin enough to accentuate the composition while leaving enough room for the required text. I was disheartened to see how much the editor had gutted my prose. Apparently they took issue with someone being forcefully restrained and getting a (much deserved) ass-whacking. — Michael Kirwan
Barn Dance — 2000 — 12½" x 12½" Originally published in AllBoy magazine April, 2001.
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