McSweeney’s Internet Tendency | An Open Letter to a Suicidal Friend, a Bulimic Friend, a Long Lost Aunt, and Stephanie, Your New Linked In Connection

Dear Suicidal Friend, Bulimic Friend, Long Lost Aunt, and Stephanie –

What do you do when a good friend texts: “It’s bad again. I’m trying not to hurt myself. I love you”? Then another friend texts he’s anorexic/bulimic and sad? And a few minutes later the aunt you never knew looks you up on Facebook and sends you a message and asks if you have a problem with funeral pictures because your grandfather, who is dead now, took pictures of your father, who died when you were one year old, and she would like to show them to you if you don’t have a problem with funeral pictures? Yes, you think, I do have a problem with funeral pictures but I only have one picture of my father and should I deny myself more pictures of my father because he’s dead? Seconds later LinkedIn emails, “Congratulations, you and Stephanie are now connected. See what Stephanie has been up to.” Read the entire essay at McSweeney’s.

The Editors

Eckleburg was founded in 2010 as an online and print literary and arts journal. We take our title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and include the full archives of our predecessor Moon Milk Review. Our aesthetic is eclectic, literary mainstream to experimental. We appreciate fusion forms including magical realist, surrealist, meta- realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors, Roxane Gay, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis.