"Pawns", linoleum print, 2000
image of light pixels shot from electrode to electrode through time and space
to arrive at my retina and end finally at my brain. This is my reality, I think,
as I click from point to point in a cyber dimension almost more real than my
own. What is real? As I accumulate fact after fact and create my own in a
realm where absolutes are non-existant, I feel emptier with each new insight.
A shadow moves over my screen. What is the cause of this intrusion that I
certainly did not point and click? I turn and see another screen, slightly larger
and less illuminated, a window. I vaguely note that the sun has been replaced
by a monotonous gray sky and the humming is now accompanied by the steady
pattering of rain. Irritated by the interruption in my "crucial" yet soulless
endeavor, I start to turn from the window until something catches my eye. An
arc of color sweeping across the monotony embeds itself in my mind. Seeing those
bands of color across the sky sparks a memory long forgotten but before I can
name it, it is gone. Searching my mind desperately to get back whatever it was
that rainbow ignited inside of me, I finally give up and tear my eyes away. As I
gasp for air, I become conscious that I had ceased to breathe. Then I thankfully
recall that the arc in the sky is nothing more than an optical illusion from re-
fracted light. I turn back to the screen of inconsequential importance. Glancing
over my shoulder, I see the arc in the sky has faded. Relieved, I return to the
steady hum of my point and click world.
