Et Volupté

Even before I had the wrong job, even before the horses and the peacocks, I worked at Fruity Rudy's, a teeny little stand at Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley, making smoothies and fresh-squeezed orange juice for students and tourists alike. While there, a frequent customer who worked in the bookstore across the street, recommended a book to me. I've never known what made the prescient connection for him, but it worked.

I always thought that The Life of an Amorous Woman, written in 1686 by Ihara Saikaku, was woven not of ink and paper, but of yellow silk. When I had begun to think about the magazine, I realized I wanted it to feel the way that book felt: luxe, calme, et volupté-- with an occasional orgasm and a nipple or two thrown in.

I remember running into a friend, the guy who ran the bookstore at Berkeley's University Art Museum and told him about the magazine I was thinking of starting. "What do you think of the name Yellow Silk?" He liked it, as did I.