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Congratulations to MFA alum Matthew Hawkins on publication of their nonfiction essay, in Passages North #43.

From :

Every Friday, before the real show, Chicago punk music venue The Empty Bottle hosts line dancing. Transplants nostalgic for their rural hometowns flock to the establishment on the west side. People wearing cowboy hats and boots and flannel button-downs and long floral skirts—everything you’d expect—pack in and select their partners for the night. There’s a live band complete with amped-up banjo. Shoes stick to the beer-encrusted floor as the people do their steps. The bathrooms are disgusting too: floors covered in misplaced human waste; walls coated with graffitied offensive slurs and stickers showcasing mediocre trying-too-hard indie bands. No one finds it ironic that the local cowboy and punk scenes share the same space. During the event, you can hear a harmonica through the shared wall of the vegan-friendly restaurant next door. Though, it’s so faint that if you aren’t actively listening for it on some level, you might miss it. 

Check out Hawkin's at Passages North, follow them on Twitter at , and check out some of their other work at their .  

photo by Andrew Neher ( via Flickr); March 9, 2008; Licensed for use under Creative Commons .