We went into the city for the information session at Parsons, which was very informative.

There was a farmers’ market going on in Union Square, with all sorts of organic bread, goat cheese, vegetables, etc. from upstate New York. We had a snack at the Starbucks, and walked across the plaza to this enormous, five-floor Barnes and Noble.

I found two novellas/essays by my Jean Baudrillard, who I adore and can never find anything by him in regular bookstores. I got Passwords and Cool Memories V. I also picked up Albert Camus’ The Fall. I always wanted to read it, but I have so much respect for Camus that I’m almost hesitant to read any more of his essays/novels. I wish they would have had The Myth of Sisyphus, but I didn’t see it.

I completely identify with Baudrillard’s view of society as an empty exchange of symbols removed from any meaningful context. His views of consumerism really jive with Jean-Paul Sartre’s ideas in Nausea (in fact, he mentions Nausea in Passwords) about the equivalence of existence consumer objects claim versus our own personal existences.

Tonight (actually, in a few minutes), we’re leaving for my aunt Gail’s house about an hour south. New Jersey Turnpike, here I come. It was so great being back in New York, taking the subway. I rode the Q train for the first time :)

I hope to blow through those two novellas on the car ride down…or hopefully they’ll be too abstruse…it’s Baudrillard’s specialty.