A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Wallace writes about his trip to the 1993 Illinois State Fair when Harper’s magazine tasked him with writing about the fair; he grew up in rural Illinois but admits that he didn’t really miss it. A friend and former lover, an Illinois resident who he refers to as Native Companion, accompanied him to the 1993 fair. After he collected his press credentials the previous week, Wallace and his friend arrived for the first day. Several rides and livestock tents were already open, though the fair hadn’t yet become busy. This plays on Wallace’s nostalgic recollection of his childhood, a “radically self-centered” (89) time when the world seemed built for his personal enjoyment. He visited the horses, cows, and swine (but avoided the poultry due to a long-standing phobia). Next, they visited the carnival-like games and rides. Two fair workers grinned while offering Native Companion a ride on the Zipper, “a kind of Ferris Wheel on amphetamines” (98). The men fooled around with the ride, at one point halting Native Companion’s cart upside-down in such a way that Wallace became convinced that they were “ogling her nethers” (99). While he was angry (though he said nothing), Native Companion dismissed his concerns.