Jacob Lawrence, "The Lovers," 1946
Jacob Lawrence, The Lovers (1946)
Can a Game Be Literature?

Mark's Pages

September 2, 2003:

Books on the floor: Mythmaking in America, H. Bruce Franklin; Covering Islam, Edward Said; Mutiny on the Amistad, Howard Jones; The Arcades Project, Walter Benjamin; Mysteries of the Alphabet, Marc-Alain Ouaknin; Reading Capital, Louis Althusser; The Advanced D&D Manuals, Gary Gygax.

CDs on the table: Ofra Haza, Led Zeppelin, Guns 'n' Roses, Natacha Atlas, Javanese gamelan, Charlie Patton.

DVDs on the dresser: Gaza Strip; Berkeley in the '60s; Frida; The Simpsons Complete Third Season; The Mask of Zorro; The Naudet brothers' 9/11 documentary; Hercules, the Complete First Season; Xena, the Complete First Season.

Junk on the desk: Martinelli's sparkling apple cider; Necco wafers; Peppomint© Life Savers; a cordless electric razor; an open box of Memorex DVD-RW disks; a pile of hospital bills with a broken rubber band; a telephone answering machine with the message light blinking.

Junk on the floor: headphones; popcorn; Rosetta Stone Latin Explorer; muddy shoes; dirty pants; discarded credit card offers; more hospital bills.

Guitars on stands near the bookshelves: a Fender Custom Shop 1954 Strat reissue, dusty; a Dobro roundneck, also dusty.

Photos on the wall: friends' children; friends; lost friends. One framed print, The Lovers, Jacob Lawrence.

In the chair: lanky boy, no longer a boy but still boyish; dark hair no longer black yet not at all as gray as it should be; no longer healthy yet maybe not so sick as all that. Eating Necco wafers; blowing-off the laundry; thinking he wants a new Les Paul; thinking he wants to stay up all night reading; thinking, There's not enough time to accomplish everything you want to accomplish.

This is more than a simple inventory. These are all symptoms. Of over-commitment, of ambition, of disorganization. Above all, of confidence, despite everything, that this time in life is his moment of maturity, that his skills are sharp, that his vision is right, that he has the ability to do the things that are important to him. So that life is now all about time.