June 3, 2015
Two insurrectionists, Robert Repino & Quintan Ana Wikswo, embark in conversation on their new books in Os and 1s episode XI.
In this installment, Andrew Lipstein set up Robert Repino (above) with Quintan Ana Wikswo (below). They discuss the subway’s magnetic field, metamorphosis and transmogrification, the editing process, letting go of stories, tedious turf conversations & more.
CLICK HERE to read the discussion between me, the delightful Robert Repino, and the visionary Andrew Lipstein.
this is one of my favorite passages:
Robert: I saw a rat kill a mouse on the subway tracks once and it blew my mind. (Sorry, let’s move on.)
Quintan: To my understanding, the iron infrastructure of the subway system has its own magnetic field. It’s fun to play with a compass down there and watch it fail. All the trains running in the same directions for a hundred years, etcetera. I shudder to think of what kind of compass the rats have developed.
Quintan: (sorry, Robert.)
Quintan: Did you spend time underground in Philly?
Robert: I mostly took the 65 bus, but I have been in the El system in Philly many times.
Robert: I’m still processing what you said about the compass…
Andrew: Where did you read that Quintan?
Quintan: I imagine the rat compass is a sort of solari board – that was my favorite part of the Philly 30th street station…all the little destinations that flip over one letter at a time.
Robert: Andrew, I hope Quintan answers you by saying simply, “I just know.”
Quintan: My father is a physicist and when I offered to take him on a NYC subway expedition, he came equipped with a pocket compass to prove his theory.
Robert: Holy crap.
Quintan: He also had a nice trick where he ran to the windows of the subway when there was “nothing to look at” and excitedly snapped photos with his iPhone.
Andrew:http://gothamist.com/2013/08/04/the_subways_magnetic_fields_are_mag.php
Robert: I’m stealing all of this. All. Of. It.
Andrew: How do you mean ‘steal’?
Robert: Using it for a story.
Quintan: Thus proving the somewhat marvelous theory that excitedly taking photos of nothing will excite unexcitable people.
Quintan: Watch out with the stealing thing. It’s one of the first symptoms that one is turning into a rat.
Andrew: Your father sounds like a lovely man.
Quintan: Well then, Andrew, you should ride on an Eastern European airplane with him while he points out all the structural integrity problems.
Robert: My dad takes Philly transit to complain about the trolley lines they took down.
Robert: “I remember the number 10, went from x to y…”
Quintan: Oh that’s beautiful. Tech ghost witness on philly transit.