At the Market
By Summer Block

A note left on the door . . .

1. If Summer is not home, she is at the market.
2. Summer is not home.
3. She is at the market.

Love,
Summer

P.S.—The preceding statements presuppose "if and only if Summer is not home, she is still at the market" therefore omitting the possibility that I would be simultaneously both at home and at the market. But since you know that I don't live at the market, I feel the statement "If Summer is not home, she is at the market" implies a high degree of exclusivity for both options. Also, "at the market" must of course be taken in its broadest, colloquial sense, as inclusive of all points to and from the market as well as the market itself, such that I could be, for instance, walking up Rue des Boulangers and still be said to be "at the market." Similarly, "at home" can be said to include the entirety of the residential space, including stairways, hallways, etc., such that were I already walking up the stairs, or even pressing in the code at the front door, you could rightly say that I was "at home already" though these semi-public spaces are of course not properly considered to be my home. Though of course it is difficult to specifically define or pinpoint a single physical space which marks the border between "home" and "market," I think we can agree to casually delineate "home" as "at the front door or beyond it" and "market" as any point outside that sphere. By "sphere," of course, I do not mean to denote a specific and rigorously defined three-dimensional shape or object, but rather to denote a metaphorical place of activity or inquiry, as in "mathematical logic is outside my sphere of study" or "she excels in the domestic sphere," though the latter may call to mind a large, semi-transparent, bubble-like house or enclosure. This is further complicated by the somewhat indeterminate nature of the word "sphere" in its previous usage, wherein it can be said to correspond to both a physical space (the domicile) and a metaphorical or conceptual space (the world of home-making and the like). This same confusion is no doubt present in my earlier statement "any point outside that sphere" and therefore I will thoughtfully amend that earlier statement to read "any point outside the apartment confines."

P.P.S.—The preceding postscript presupposes that we are dealing with an entirely Newtonian universe. In truth, we know that it is impossible to truly measure both my position and velocity at any point, that our very interference in measuring the system would change its conditions and disrupt it, and that so long as I am not observed, I exist in a sort of "super-position" of states, simultaneously at the market and at home. Furthermore, we know from deconstructionist critical theory that the very notion of "market/home" is a false dichotomy whereas in fact "market" and "home" form a complex interplay, supporting and sustaining one another in a closed system. Therefore, I must apologize for my almost casually dismissive earlier reference to "simultaneously at the market and at home," a statement which in its neat assumption of authority on the part of the speaker serves only to strengthen our society's hegemonic insistence on certain sanctioned modes of discourse.

——

Summer Block inhabits a large, semi-transparent sphere.

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