February 23, 2004
#17 :: Blown-glass egg
Supernovas, star clusters, constellations, nebulas, amoebas, colonies of light, iridescent visual noise all clamor for attention inside this two-pound chunk of handcrafted glass, a gift from my folks a few years back. This sort of thing used to be called a "paperweight." But that was before we climbed down out of the trees and moved online to grunt and posture and draw our own likenesses on virtual walls with digital feces, forever forsaking the piles of papers now blowing willy-nilly about our desks. This thing would deliver only a glancing blow in a hand-to-hand combat with a burglar, I've often thought while basking in harmful VDT radiation late at night. But if I got a chance to line up for a good shot, I'd probably be able to give him a rollicking headache before he got his screwdriver in me.