Free writing assignment, c. 2002 Well, they want some free associative writing. I'll free associate anytime. I have time. Having Doctor Freud looking over my shoulder, breathing down my neck also helps. We all need some motivation, so thanks for the assignment. The Time magazine under this paper is from Oct. 4, 1999. Oh, the good old days when the most we had to worry about was when to do the next oil change. That was before the terrible election of 2000, before the 9/11 tragedy. Oh, how innocent we were, how democratic. Before 1999 we had always elected a president. Before 1999 the worst oil debacle was the Persian Gulf War. Now we have a pit in New York where monuments to civilization once stood. We all must live with the memories of that terrible event. My drawing has elements of all this - the positive dream of a world united in tolerance, acceptance, and love. The dream about my watch, a butterfly wing, and a good outcome from surviving all this distraction and misery. Humankind prevails. That is the affirmation that carries us through. The Time magazine cover ponders whether Bill Bradley could beat Al Gore in the primaries. If only we could see the future, the editors wouldn't even waste their time on magazine covers like this. It would have said - "Will we survive the terrible events on the horizon? Sell all your stock while you still have time! Yeah, the market's down, but seems like it will go up forever. But what goes up must come down! Prepare now, suckers." Who is this Bill Bradley who stares from the cover of the magazine? If he could have won the primaries, maybe all this could have been avoided.