The Lottery

I'm still happy that in Mr. Russell's 7th grade English class we put on a performance of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery - I played Mr. Delacroix, natch - although I can't for the life of me understand how on Earth someone thought it was appropriate for a bunch of 12 year-olds, but oh well!

Meanwhile, since it's the Halloween season, here's 11 facts about the lottery. My fave:

4. The editors asked to make a minor tweak.

The editors did ask for permission to make one small change: They wanted to alter the date in the story’s opening so it coincided with the date on the new issue—June 27. Jackson said that was fine.

OOOOOOOOOH - reminds me of when I read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court!

The greatest example of all being when I was a kid and was reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and the narrator announced the date, which was the very day I was reading the book (for some reason I think it was June 22...I could be wrong, but that's stuck in my head.) I immediately went "whoa!", closed the book, put it down, and walked out the door, vowing to one day invent The Cleveland Steamer.

Life. Fucking crackers, right? 

ANYhoo, get thee over to a copy of The Lottery before Halloween, people!