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

This place is both welcoming and highly regulated. The entrance is wide-open and inviting. There is a certain point at which a person knows to be quiet. The slightest bit of noise is a huge disturbance to those sitting around the noisemaker. In a very orderly arrangement plastic boxes with viewing screens are the object of every visitors desire. Attached by thin cords are rectangular boards with various symbols printed on them; letters, numbers, punctuation symbols and odd words like num lock. A second attachment  comes in the form of a small mond of plastic with two buttons that make clicking sounds when pressed. Quite frequently the clicking of these buttons result in the changing of the images displayed on the viewing screen. For the most part people entering this area seem deliberate in their actions. They enter, seat themselves in front of a viewing screen, fix their eyes upon it and go about the business of clicking and changing the viewing screens display. For some this can be done at a leisurely pace and for others it seems like a highly stressful race against time.