March 14th - Conference Thoughts
Conference Thoughts
People sit so still at this conference. How are they doing that? These soft chairs and the window to the sunny day out there. Oof.
They ran out of coffee before I got here. It feels so unfair. I also feel nauseous. All these people are much older. There's a lot of questionable sun hats being worn inside, and lots of water bottles with stickers on 'em hugging chair legs. Their backpacks are made from technical fabrics with bungees involved. No judgement here, just painting the scene.
White people. A man makes a joke and there's light laughter. It's like a joke at an opera; everyone participates in the light laughter, but not because the joke is any good, but because we all want a break from the repetitious echo of monotone lines falling out of the face of the presenter. I try to sit still but my leg shakes and I scratch my head again, tug on my ear, pull on my skin and let it snap back.
There's some good information here. "Just listen," I tell myself, and the thought is so loud and takes so long to think that I've missed the thesis statement and am just starting to get the point when people start clapping for the speaker as he flips the switch on the overhead projector and the slide disappears off the wall. I realize that my only note reads:
"will be using 10001 - doesn't scale up exactly per liter."
I have no idea what that means. And below that I've written:
"sun softened tinder face remembering the smiling and walking. We're like two haloed trees touching when the wind sings. Blazing in the wilderness. The fire in the sky is more than just light. It's a scene that deserves careful contemplation."
I have no idea what that means either, but it reminds me of writing other bad poetry with Philly in sociology class, a little bit drunk and passing notes, sometimes drawing pictures of naked people and giggling in the back of the room.