Yesterday I received the much-delayed Issue 4 of The Thing. Rather than trying to explain The Thing in my own words, I’ll take the easy route and paste their words:

THE THING Quarterly is a periodical in the form of an object. Each year, four artists, writers, musicians or filmmakers are invited by the editors (Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan) to create an everyday object that somehow incorporates text. This object will be reproduced and hand wrapped at a wrapping party and then mailed to the homes of the subscribers with the help of the United States Postal Service.

This was a bittersweet package for me, as it was my last issue of The Thing. I really wanted to re-subscribe, but at the time $100 was a lot of money for me. It still is, and now it’s up to $140. But look at the creators of issues 7-10: Jonathan Lethem, Trevor Paglen, Ryan Gander and Starlee Kine! So tempting. And getting that box in the mail stamped THE THING and opening the box (always different sizes and shapes) to discover the mystery object inside is one of the most exciting feelings.

So I savored this last experience until me and The Thing meet again.