
Don’t Talk to the Homeless – Louie CK, comedic moralist and performing masturbator, has a bit in his eponymous television show where he describes his friend’s country cousin coming to New York City and encountering a homeless person. She goes to help the man, but Louie and his friend stop her from helping him. She asks ‘Is he okay?’ and the response they had was ‘No, no. He needs you desperately. That’s not the point, we just don’t do that here.’ So it goes. When walking city streets, one must always avoid eye contact or else you invite someone to talk to you, or worse ask you for help. It would be uncharacteristic for Stoke to actively do anything, even something, or especially something, as trite as looking away. Instead Stoke is just looking in a direction and it is us, the uncomfortable audience, that is looking away. – Zachary