SETTING: A brightly-lit room on the tenth floor of a tall, shiny building in downtown DC. Walking from the metro to the marble lobby, one would pass perhaps two Au Bon Pains and twice as many Starbucks. In the hallway outside the room, coffee, tea, and bottled water are offered alongside boxes of lukewarm wrap sandwiches dripping mayonnaise and platters of cookies, 90% of which are oatmeal raisin. Someone was hoping no one would notice.
Inside the room, three video cameras are set up. One films a livestream watched by approximately three people, all of whom are interns that are actually on Facebook chat or Tinder at their desks. The second broadcasts to CSPAN (does anyone watch that?). The third is operated by an undergraduate research assistant to the PhD moderating the panel so that it can be added to the “Media” section of his boss’s website. It is here we meet our cast of characters: Continue reading
I Bought My Adulthood 