“Test” by Kevin Valen Arcelo
Originally published in Heavy Feather Review (2024) for its Side A series, this work uses Times New Roman to explore themes of fascism and state surveillance.
To provide context, I was inspired to create this work after seeing the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test that was produced during the Jim Crow era to suppress the black vote. In a way, I wanted to mimic the absurd and demoralizing nature of that historical piece. Times New Roman was my font of choice as it also copies the same pseudo-academic style of that work.
In a broader sense, I wanted this piece to deconstruct the type of psychic weaponry used by fascists, dictators, and totalitarian states that weaponize the “appearance of legitimacy” as a way to invalidate the participation of a person/group of people from society, education, politics, or human life entirely.
