David's World

There's never a time that I visit New York, and come back home, that I do not think about a life that might have been. Manhattan is home to the traditional publishing industry. It has always had the power to make a writer a star, much as L.A. controls the future for aspiring actors.

By the time I was 19, I knew I was a writer, though there was no way, internally, that I could tell whether I was a run-of-the-mill writer, a hack, a very good writer, or something beyond all of that.

Like many writers, I've lived in a private world, all of my life. Inside David's World, everything is different than in the "real" world we share with one another. Much of my world is fantasy, most probably the type of fantasies that most others would find exceedingly bizarre.

For example, I live privately in a world of numbers. I see numbers, and the lovely patterns they reveal, all around me. There is a certain mathematical logic behind street signs, retail displays, emerging buildings, and backyards that gives me immense pleasure.



But, only as I've grown older have I come to understand that others see these visible aspects of our environment differently, that the patterns that mean so much to me can actually be defined as neuroses, i.e., coping mechanisms, not the beautiful swashes of art that display themselves to me.

***

I have a new book idea! Shall I reveal it here? I've been developing it over the past few months, as I've watched Obama sweep to victory, promising a new era of governing, while I work with my colleagues in Silicon Valley to launch a new version of our website.

Naturally, you can see where I am going. Government 2.0. You heard it here first.

The back of my house has been bolstered with new redwood studs and repainted salmon. Either my landlady is rolling in cash, or (as I suspect) this place is about to be put on the market.

Call me paranoid. I've been called worse things. But I hope I am wrong, because the kids and I want to remain here, for a few more years. We need to get them through high school and into college.

On the other hand, should my new book idea prove to be a runaway best-seller, perhaps I may soon be capable of buying this, or another appropriate home for my family.

I don't know anything, other what is going on inside my own head. Tonight, I am seeing the numbers of a people still hoping that tomorrow may be better than today. I see a young President-elect who understands his moment in history, and who therefore will be launching initiatives that can help us collectively get there.

So, in the end, from the writer who is me, the main message I have to offer is a simple one: Hope. It is, when you analyze Obama's speeches, essentially what he is offering.

Think of it this way. Either we collectively believe in tomorrow or we don't. I do. He does. What about you?



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