The Proof Is in the Punctum, Which Makes Peregrinations Over Time

Back when young people still paid attention to MySpace, I used to regale my students with stories of how I once had long talks about abstruse topics, such as the implications of post-structuralist thought for Marxism, with Tom Anderson, everyone's first friend on the site. Some of them actually believed the rumors that his identity was fabricated. I corrected them, noting that he had sent me a message back when he was first starting MySpace, urging me to participate. Despite my protestations to the contrary, however, I think a lot of them thought I was pulling their leg, if not about Tom, then about the fact that I had mentored him in cultural theory.

Anyway, I was going through my Pictures of the Moment album today, trying to boost my sagging morale by remembering how many good shots I've taken, when I came upon this image, obviously not my own work, that I posted once in an entry about my experiences with the graduate-student union at UC Berkeley and, further, as evidence that I had once sported locks capable of inspiring near dread, if not dread itself:

As I studied the image, suffused with nostalgia for Telegraph and Bancroft, not to mention the camaraderie of the picket line, I realized that the dark-haired man standing behind me, to the right of the balaclava-clad Kevin Cook, is Tom Anderson. So now you have proof not only that I was once a long hair, but that I also consorted with a pioneer of social networking. Take that Barack Obama, with your tenuous connections to the Weathermen. I will accept payment of respect in credits at Insound or, failing that, Amazon. Please e-mail me if you have any questions about the amount due.