It is only human that we endeavor to find deep meaning in every action, yet the rise of postmodernism and the West Coast Offense has shifted the window through which we understand meaning from our culture (the team) to the individual. With this play, entitled “22 Red Slant,” I make reference to both the past and future of aesthetics. Garner, you go up field to the 40 before suddenly breaking inward, representing both the mutable and illusory nature of progress. Meanwhile, Williams will be headed up the right sideline, simultaneously mirroring and subverting the audience and the defense’s expectations and using any pass thrown his way to step out of bounds, stopping the clock and reminding the viewer that “the game” is merely a Baudrillardian spectacle with its own arbitrary rules of time and place. Anyways, West Lake might try something funny, but I figure the Freudian subtext of any defensive blitz is gonna be pretty clear to me. I’m gonna be back in the pocket holding steady, an island amid the swirling tension of loyalties and identities, looking up field to the future while remaining paralyzed by the power dynamics around me. Okay on 2. Ready? Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose! Break!
Short Imagined Monologues
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Matt Saracen, Dillon, Texas High School Quarterback, Plays in His First Game Back Since Visiting The Art Institute of Chicago as a Prospective Student.
BY David Bernstein
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