Mom, Dad, I'm into Steampunk: an imaginary monologue

Cory Doctorow 10:35 pm Tue Jul 29, 2008

McSweeney's Short imagined monologues presents, "Mom, Dad,
I'm Into Steampunk" by Marco Kaye.

No, I won't take off my topcoat. And that's exactly my point. I understand your confusion. The nascent trend I have latched onto is difficult to define. Maybe I can explain it to you with the new mods I've been working on. No, Mom. Not like in Quadrophenia, although I appreciate those mods' fondness for tailor-made clothing. These mods.

This looks like a late-18th-century organette, correct? Look again. It hides the Dell laptop you got me when I went to college. This bronze hand crank turns it on, and I've hidden a miniature photo printer where the tune sheet is supposed to go. I even installed Linux. I've put a lot of time into this since I quit my job at Anthropologie, which is something else I wanted to tell you about. Don't get up and go to Lowe's yet. But when you're there can you get me a two-speed fan capacitor?

Mom, Dad,
I'm Into Steampunk

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