Any Madisonian knows that August 15 is when old furniture finds its way onto the curbs and sidewalks. It's moving day, all the students are moving (and a lot of other people), they're all in a tremendous hurry, and they throw everything they don't want onto the street--not least the furniture they probably picked up off the street the summer before.

I had an idea once to write a coffee table book about this phenomenon, and I took some preliminary photographs. Unfortunately, I was myself moving that August (the pictures are dated August 8, 2001), and August after that, so I haven't had enough time to do all the research I needed. But here are some preliminary images from my book, working title: The Sad Couches.

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