I'm packing mental suitcases, bound for Amtrak and the [[Maker Faire]]."There is so much action in New York one is sometimes perversely excited by those moments, or those places, when [[one is not part of it]]. Where nothing is happening. These places, in turn, become little air-pockets of possibility--what I call negative space."Bert emails a link to NYC stories. I scan them, and since I'm in a negative mood, Thomas Beller's title catches my eye: "[[Negative]] Space." This passage sends me down a philosophic rabbit hole of considering [[presence]] and [[absence]].Beller inspired me to add the **presence** of two books on my trip: *The Black Mountain* by Rex Stout and *Syllabus* by Lynda Barry.
(link-goto: "Return", (history:)'s last)*The Black Mountain* is famous for the **absence** from New York of sedentary detective Nero Wolfe.
Barry's book quoted a fragment from Rumi on **absence**: ". . . **every craftsman searches for what's not there** to practice craft. A builder looks for the hole where the roof caved in. A water carrier picks the empty pot. A carpenter stops at the house with no door."
I realized my ambition was to find the [[negative space]] on this trip, the **pockets of possibility**. This translated into my decision to tweet photos without my picture in them.
It struck me as fitting, that I'd be both present taking the photos and absent from them [[. . .]] I'm not claiming this makes sense.
But consider: when are you both present and absent?
Maybe during staff meetings?
Maybe while you're reading this.
Well, one more [[thought]].At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Adrian Villar Rojas asked viewers:
"What if we discover we are living within a labyrinth
[[not a house?"->NYC Bound]]