So much discussion, in the university corridors.
What was Cicero about? What was she up to? Why did she want to create a new philosophy department at the end of career? Why bother? What was in it for her?
We were Cicero’s scrawl of graffiti .Her own private vandalism. Her enigmatic glyph, left behind for people to interpret.
We were Cicero’s revenge on the apparatchiks. The small-minded. The petty-souled. We were Cicero’s last academic act.
Cicero’s poisoned gift to the uni: us.
Her hand grenade, lobbed straight at them: us. Her booby trap, left behind: us. Set to go off, later: us. Cicero’s legacy …
The rot had set in – but Cicero wanted more rot.
A true philistinism: that’s what we embodied. A true vandalism. A true degradation. The gutter had been allowed to flow through the university.
The humanities have already collapsed – that’s what none of Cicero’s professor friends understood. The humanities are already over. And we’re what comes after.
Work in Progress 