JON RAYMOND

— This is a photocopy of the first book I ever made. The cover depicts what I think is a cop or sheriff (the star on the chest, the cowboy hat), and the words, “Jon R’s Book.”

The inside spread—the only spread—depicts (as far as I can tell) a man crossing the street against the stop light (that box with the word “Stop” in it) to get to a pizzeria (that house, with the pizza slice on it), and a cop (this one more like a British bobby) yelling, “Fuck You!”

What was I thinking?? I have no clue. Why is this cop so angry? Why is the pedestrian smiling? Is that even a pizza place he’s going to? All the creative intentionality of this project is lost to time. All I can say is I was probably four or five years old, living in the Bay Area, and it was the mid-seventies. Pizza and cops were on my mind.

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Jon Raymond is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of THE HALF-LIFE, a novel, and LIVABILITY, a collection of stories, two of which became the movies OLD JOY and WENDY AND LUCY. He is also the writer of the forthcoming feature film MEEK’S CUTOFF, and cowriter of the forthcoming HBO miniseries MILDRED PIERCE.