Extra Credit - Ben Marcus

“Adulthood looks like an exhaustion farm. Who would willingly purchase a ticket to that?” Who indeed? Ben Marcus’ convoluted and experimental brand of writing initially left me a bit confused. The interview he read first lacked the contextual structure I think I needed to understand it a bit better. The entire piece was littered with references that I either didn’t catch fast enough or didn’t catch at all. Once I found his rhythm, however, I found him highly entertaining and more than a little mind-blowing. Take the above quotation, for example. Marcus flies straight in the face of every societal convention that says that we must grow up. While I missed much of the point of the interview from which this came, this idea stuck with me. The older I become (though, granted, I’m not that old), the more I become disillusioned with life and responsibilities. Adulthood is exhausting. I believe Marcus was referring both to the physical and emotional states of adulthood. Some people reach it sooner than others. I have a friend who’s been an emotional adult since high school whereas others are still working toward it. Still others will never reach emotional adulthood though they may be adults on the outside. But why should we have to grow up? Personally, I’m not sure that remaining a child my whole life is something I want to do. While I certainly had no idea that I was going to live years at a time undernourished and sleep deprived, I might have chosen to forgo college. I certainly don’t intend to live many more years exhausted like I am. I just hope that I can find something to do with my life that I’ll enjoy. Don’t we all? I just wish I knew what that might be.