Summary

“Tell Don't Show” is narrated in the second person and in the present tense. Thus, “you” ride the bus to work, feeling generally unhappy and unwell. You watch the other passengers on the bus. At work, you sit in a meeting in which your colleagues discuss ideas for an ad campaign for a brand of dog food. You have the best idea, and your boss and coworkers are impressed. They invite you for a drink after work. You go, even though you do not feel up to it. It turns out to be fun. Months later, you see your dog food commercial on TV. You drop a bowl of cereal on the floor and it shatters. This causes you to “think about terrorism, and about your love of cereal” (268).

In “Slang of Ages,” two television executives...