Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

My companions and I encounter a sign that hangs from a ceiling, which reads “the computer lab”. Alas, we have reached the landing site of our assignment. The lab opens into a wide space filled with boxes that create a circular arena for seating. We situate ourselves in a corner of the room and sit on stiff immobile cushions, which lack the excitement of the movable seats with legs that are paired with the boxes. The environment seems calming, but there is a building tension, and nervousness emanating from some of the beings. Many of the beings move their hands rapidly across a rectangle board with buttons without looking down…then they walk to a tall rectangular machine to recover paper, in doing so they begin to speed up from a walk to a much more uncomfortable and heart-racing pace. However, there are a few beings that make unbelievable loud sounds from their bellies that come up the throats and through the mouth. It is both appealing and obnoxious in such a quiet space. Behind the main area there are other rooms filled with boxes as well, and I wonder what type of beings go in there and how they react differently compared to this particular room? Suddenly my pondering is disturbed by a male-being loudly conversing with an odd speaker box object placed against the side of his head and I am glad it is time to leave.