Trash Ball-an Inter-Carbon Life Form Love Story

This is the heartwarming story of an MFA candidate, Katie Walberg, and her degree thesis muse, Mr. Trash Ball.

Mr. Trash Ball was a complex but colorful life form that liked to hang out on his front porch and drink lots of PBR.

He enjoyed going for road trips with his humans, Katie and Scott. Due to his girth, a direct result of his heavy beer habit, he was resigned to traveling in the wind.

Despite his rotundness, Trashball was known as a Hottie. Women loved to run their hands under his orange traffic construction fence webbing to feel his discarded shopping bags. Katie loved nothing more than to go riding with him on his Harley. Since Katie had conceived of him, he belonged to her. This did not prevent other women from wanting to get a piece of him.

The Harlot with the Red Shoes had been eyeing him from afar, but could not constrain herself any longer.

She decided to take Katie on.

Wham!

Smack!

Rip!

Undefeated, Katie took off with Mr. Trashball to seek protection from his biker gang, The Garbage Collectors.

They were a vicious gang of thugs, artists, and PHD's who would stop at nothing to protect them.

Undeterred, The Harlot with the Red Shoes showed up on her own ride, and without warning, attacked.


Trashball was thrown suddenly from his bike into the path of his friend, Gerry the Moll.

It was curtains for trashball.

His debris was scattered all over the roadway.

The police had quite a job mapping the scene.


Who knew?

The Garbage Collectors were given Mr. Trashball's body.

Racked by quilt over Mr. Trashball's demise, Gerry planned to immolate himself with his homemade flame thrower. After friends convinced him Mr. Trashball was planning on re-incycling himself anyway, Gerry just had fun playing with his toy for awhile before putting it back in the garage. Trashball was brought to The Sacred Place of the Giant Cement Mushrooms.

"Recycle long and prosper", said Scott. Scott was secretly excited to get Katie back all to himself, so he could start recycling like all the other normal people who went to the Fellini Center for Groceries and Trash.

Trashball remained in The Sacred Place of the Giant Cement Mushrooms for but a brief time before he was re-incycled at triple his size as the focal point of Katie's MFA Thesis exhibit at Maryland Institute College of Art.

THE END

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Credits:

Thanks to all the people who let me come to the work party to increase Trashball's size before his degree thesis debut. Thanks also to Gerry's mom and dad, Gerry, Graciella, Katie, Scott, and all the other people who let me direct them to do silly stuff for my camera and let me use my idea to create a photo narrative drama of Mr. Trashball to further glorify his existance as a local Knoxville Art Icon.

Special thanks to the Unknown Biker who rode up the street and spontaneously joined The Garbage Collector's gang during the shoot.

Denise Stewart-Sanabria
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