If we are freed of ___, then ____?

I began sorting through some of my sketch­books last night in prepa­ra­tion for moving. I don’t know who I was fooling thinking this would be produc­tive — yours truly inevitably ends up sitting on the deck with a glass of wine, reading through old course notes, doodles, book recom­men­da­tions, and shop­ping lists all jumbled together in stack after stack of Moleskine notebook.

[These Moleskines, to be exact, until these beau­ties became available.]

It was amazing how easily I could remember exactly where I was when I wrote a certain list, or jotted down a certain quote. I found the list above written on a white­board in the Digital + Media depart­ment — I had arrived a few minutes early for my Networked Landscapes elec­tive — obvi­ously remaining after some conver­sa­tion in a previous class. It struck me as thought-provoking then, and it did so again last night. What were the people in that room trying to figure out? Was it adapted from some existing text, or did the partic­i­pants generate it?

[I like to think that I could make these into mad libs for the contem­po­rary artist or designer. Fill in the blanks with some rele­vant issues, and presto! Instant thesis topic. The fine folks of Make, Do would approve, I think.]