Catfish All Day

So many packaged media messages surround us - advertising campaigns, logos, storefront signage and promotions. Each one of them consists of safe, sanitized pieces of capitalist communication. And each one, you can be sure, had "sign off" from a bobsled of corporate vice presidents who demanded maximum market penetration without offending any demographic.

Still you can see home-grown public writing here and there, the hand-lettered marquees and chalkboard lunch specials that seem more like folksy haikus. For weeks now I've driven past "Catfish All Day" on the sign of a local buffet, and seems suggestive of something greater than a heap of fried protein on a steam tray - like it could be a lost Robert Jordan instrumental - a hint of something more subtle in the stripmall wasteland.