- The background. My fantasy has been to retire in a small desert town in the American Southwest. This ain't gonna happen. So I put a desert scene here as compromised comfort.
- The right hand column. In the boisterous spirit of Norman Mailer, this might be titled "Advertisements For Myself." It's an overview of my career and its important moments and turning points. It includes testimony so that I can remind myself that, yes, this actually did happen, as long ago and far away as it seems today; perhaps I am not yet totally delusional. Despite frequent worries to the contrary, I seem actually to have made some worthwhile contributions to literary culture. Which really is all I've wanted to do.
- The photo of myself and Sketch is, well, another emblem of comfort.
So far, so good, if I say so myself.
