To construct this piece, I examined data showing which US cities had the highest rates of deadly encounters with the police, among black men, in 2015.  For the most part, these are also the cities with the highest homicide rates overall.  Each city was assigned a month in the almanac according to which month had the most homicides.  I then looked at weather data to determine which was the hottest day of that month and located weather reports (as printed in the local newspaper) accounting the forecast for that day.  The weather report is cropped. In most cases it’s possible to see the name of the city.  The report is enlarged to the standard size of a newspaper broadsheet and copied onto handmade flax paper (which resembles skin) using handmade iron gall ink (which will oxidize, corrode, and eat the paper eventually).  

Conceptually, this piece compares the frequency of horrific news accounts with the frequency and modulation of weather reporting. It’s every day the same thing, but different.  In terms of aporia relating to debated issues, the Almanac series questions the merit of the various debates associated with gun violence—whether citizens should own semi-automatics; the over-use of force by police; that gun-related homicides are a result of outdated legislation…  This ‘debate’ seems frivolous, particularly in light of recent events highlighting the need for change.  Pairing this with weather analysis—showing the record highs for each month by city—points to the ‘debate’ over climate change.  The climate is changing.  This is a fact. Why is there a debate.  

Finally, an historic almanac is kept to provide reference to various industries on the future climate in a particular region.  It’s useful to consider how an almanac of the dead might function.