Welcome, welcome to Garden Europa! Well, no, not welcome exactly—because you cannot be allowed enter—but welcome to the fence. Peer just over the wire. Look, isn’t it beautiful? Everything’s clean, everything works! And listen, listen to this: our anthem, our glorious anthem, the height, the apotheosis of music—of culture!—itself: Beethoven’s (surely you’ve heard of him?) “Ode to Joy” (surely you’ve heard it before?). Can you hear it ringing throughout our Garden, our Elysium? Soon, maybe, if you’re lucky, we will play it in the Jungle as well. Oh, I hear it now:


To continue reading, subscribe now.

Unlimited access to our
weekly issues and archives.


Already have an account?

Jake Romm’s writing and photography have appeared in Inkstick Media, The New Inquiry, Hyperallergic, Protean Magazine, Yogurt Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Midnight Sun, VAN Magazine, and elsewhere. He...