Why The World Needs Jeremy Claerbout To Go To Reed I entered the room, which was unlit, save for the occasional flicker of the computer screen. Fully knowing what the briefing was to be about, I solemnly sat myself at the edge of the softly glowing black onyx table. Its surface was cool and smooth, repelling my hands, one of which was still scarred due to my recent "vacation" to Stalinist Russia. Skillings, my current dispatch operator, was already seated opposite me. The View Screen set in the center of the table projected the latest developments on the crisis, the explosions and sounds of human suffering were nearly palpable within my skull. "Glover," Skillings addressed me, leaning forward on the table, his chin resting in his hands. "Glover, for three months I've sat in this building cross referencing every person that the Mainframe could get its hands on, hoping to find a piece, just a shred of the genius that we need among the millions of people that are contained within its memory chips. And today, Glover, today it happened." I had never seen Skillings this excited. His eyes were wide and he had risen from his chair, choosing to lean on the table. His speech was rapid, almost that of a madman. "I was checking the `Overdue' records of a small library located in a high school named Gunn, in what used to be California, circa 1991. I noticed the name `Jeremy Claerbout' surfaced frequently, so, almost on a lark, I summoned up his English records. And Glover, here, here is what I found." He sat down once again, his eyes trained on the View Screen in the center of the table. The personnel video began. JEREMY CLAERBOUT- 6/14/74 - PARTIAL ENGLISH COMPOSITION HISTORY... 1988 FRESHMAN YEAR-- CLAERBOUT WRITES FIRST OF CONTROVERSIAL ESSAYS, THIS ONE ENTITLED, "A TALE OF TWO CITIES--WHY EVERYONE IS WRONG". EXCERPTS- ..."After reading A tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, it is clear that Sydney Carton is the protagonist, and that Madame Defarge is the antagonist. Unfortunately, everybody is wrong...First, let us take up the evidence contained within DeFarge's name. "De" in French means "Of", and "Farge" roughly translates to "Washboard". A washboard, as is known, is a plank placed along the sill of the ship in order to keep out the rising sea. This is obviously in reference to the metaphor used repeatedly by Dickens to describe the French revolution as the "rising sea". Clearly it is DeFarge's role to keep the revolution rational, humane, and from sinking the "ship" of France... 1989 SOPHOMORE YEAR-- CLAERBOUT, BY CITING EXAMPLES SUCH AS LADY MACBETH'S REFERENCE TO AN EARLIER, NON-EXISTING SCENE AND HER REFERENCE TO A NEVER-AGAIN MENTIONED SON, JUSTIFIES AND COMPOSES THE MISSING SCENE TO SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH. EXCERPTS- Macbeth- Had I known that you were to make Other of my news, I would not have been so quick As to relay all of it to you. It holds to truth that I do think of What the Sisters said. Yet, it is hidden within my mind That these thoughts do dwell. We cannot afford to entertain These sick wonderings, As from Metis Athena sprung from the head of Zeus, To swallow those against us for our own ben'ft Can only work against us in the end. ... Lad-'Tis true I have not born to you a living heir. What son you had did not see his first year. Why then, Must we continue to punish ourselves? Now is our time, Macbeth, we must come forth to take what's ours. 1990 JUNIOR YEAR-- CLAERBOUT WRITES ESSAY COMPARING THE GRAPES OF WRATH TO THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. HE ALSO PIONEERS "METAPHORIC HYPERBOLE", A STYLE OF WRITING SO AUDACIOUS IT WAS ONLY PRACTICED BY CLAERBOUT. EXAMPLE- "And throughout The Great Gatsby, we see an eager young man [Nick Carraway] turn bitter as a lemon in the morning, his original sweet opinions of people turned sour in the mouth of the East during the mastication of the summer. 1991 SENIOR YEAR-- CLAERBOUT IS PROLIFIC, CREATES ESSAYS DUBBED AS "SPECIOUS THESIS." ONE ESSAY DISCUSSES QUENTIN AS THE NIETZSCHEAN CHARACTER IN FAULKNER'S THE SOUND AND THE FURY. ANOTHER UNCOVERS PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN CONSPIRACY IN MACBETH (ONCE AGAIN ASSIGNED READING). EXCERPTS- "If acting because of a prophecy will not make it true, why did Macbeth look a gift hag in the mouth and take fatal action toward a traitor's death? It is simple. There was no destiny, there was no assurance of Macbeth's becoming king. There were no witches. There were simply three conspirators with fake hair and extra warts; their names were Lennox, Macduff and Lady Macbeth... When Banquo and Macbeth encounter the witches for the first time, it is not supernatural sisters they have met, but Lennox, Macduff and Lady Macbeth in costume. Banquo's comment, `You should be women, / and yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so.' yields insight to the quality of the make-up, and perhaps to the forgetfulness of Lennox and Macduff. LATER LIFE CLAERBOUT WAS NOT ACCEPTED TO REED COLLEGE IN 1992. AFTER PERIOD WITH "MOONIES", NOT MUCH IS KNOWN ABOUT HIM. LAST SEEN ALIVE IN ARIZONA, ATTEMPTING TO BEFRIEND LARGE CANINE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, c2032. BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED 3 YEARS AGO, IN 2051. The View Screen returned to its prior position in the table. Skillings had a different look on his face, one that implied we shared a secret. A huge secret. His voice broke the bizarre silence that had overtaken the room. "Glover, you and I both know that this nation can't hold out much longer. Within months, it's going to collapse into itself. We can no longer bear the burden of this crisis, it's too late to solve now, but not too late to solve 60 years ago... There's only one man with the brilliance to accomplish this feat, but first he must refine his skills at the only college that can help him, Reed. Glover, you must go back in time, you must see that Claerbout makes it into that school, then you must travel four years into the future and ask him how we can avoid this catastrophe. Glover, the weight of the world is on your shoulders. And the Reed admissions office, too. Go." I raised myself from the table, my body quivering from the immense responsibility it held. I walked toward the portal to save myself, and all of mankind.