Department of Unusual Requests

Lust41hr

Has anyone ever asked you if you knew a good dominitrix in the neighborhood? (In Brutalities: A Love Story, Margo Steines, who was brought up in the West Village and went to private school, documents how she became a dominatrix at 17). It’s not all that much different than getting a dentist. What both have in common is pain. But people can have strange desires. Have you ever stood in a line of urinals and encountered someone who asked for a hand? Sound Oedipal? BTW, sex, as a request, has become controversial. It’s no longer the bipartisan issue that it once was. In fact, baggage is involved and there often isn’t enough room for it in the overhead bins--if you can parse a complicated metaphor. Moving on. Have you ever had someone ask if they could have what you possess without giving in return? Sounds like a normal relationship you’ll probably say. Wouldn’t want it to be any other way. Faites les jeux. Put your cards in the table. The worst atrocities are committed under the veneer of civilization. Go ahead and eat like a pig. After all you're an animal!

Listen to Joan Baum's review of The Kafka Studies Department on NPR

and watch the trailer for the animation of Erotomania