The last known photo of Vernon McCroskey is to your right. It was taken in New Orleans, shortly after McCroskey tried, but failed, to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for blues guitar virtuosity. (Because buyers dominate the soul market, the Devil’s best offer was a coupon for a free guitar lesson at Music City Pickers in Nashville.) McCroskey has since been sighted in places as far away as Kinshasa and Katmandu, but his cup, headband, and beard were found at the edge of the bleak northern American landscape shown above. Best evidence places him, void of memory or sense, in the position of Minister for Human Resources and Social Development in Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet. But sadly no one knows, or dares to utter, the real story.