Dec 31 2008
The Future is fucked
I wonder about the future sometimes. With the benefit of hindsight, will I disparage my interests, calling them “phases”? “God, remember my risotto phase? I was so into making new risotto recipes. That creamy tomato one really was a triumph, but how silly it was of me to concentrate on such a narrow and geographically restricted branch of cookery? I certainly mastered it, though.” As an aspiring academic, it’s important to establish interests that have some staying power. The year I spent mastering zombie film discourse doesn’t feel like such a good investment anymore, but it does still come up at parties and interdisciplinary clusters. (Another benefit to that year is all the Primo Levi and abjection theory I got to read.) And what about this year? Cracks, ruins, immanence, rogue public architecture? I think I like these things but will they be tired and boring later on, like an old lover whose presence is an intolerable discomfort? Come to think of it, I don’t have any old lovers like that. I either talk to my old lovers or I don’t. At any rate, I hope to be Facebook friends with my old paper and conference topics in a few years.
