When thinking of what to write about for the inaugural Laced release and its broad but pointed theme of “seated,” a lot came to mind. Chairs, obviously. Seats. Right, of course, the name itself. More specifically, subway seats. Maybe barbershop chairs or the plastic benches at the DMV. Or perhaps airplane seats and car seats. 

 

There was something connected between all the seats I thought of rather than a desk chair or couch. They were the idle seats. Those seats that are there for the convenience of sitting but not the ones you are using for the purpose of sitting. They are the ones that offer that moment of respite and reflection, of ponderance and planning. 

 

These are the thrones of thought. 

 

On the way to work, the subway seat (if one is so lucky) or car seat is the place where your predictions for the day formulate, your hopes and apprehensions manifest, your plans for after work conceptualize. 

 

The barbershop chair prepares you for what you plan on using your new cut for, where you want to show it off, who you want to see it, why you’re getting it in the first place. 

 

The DMV bench allows for the dread of the situation to boil up, to dwell on the potential mistake that landed you there, to ask if a driver’s license picture retake is really worth the whole ordeal.

 

The airplane seat, in all its tiny, wildly uncomfortable and too close to other people for comfort glory, lets you suffer before basking in the joy and ecstasy of travel. 

 

These seats allow for the chaos of the mind to flourish and organize itself. They are the places where you prepare for what’s next. 

 

They are in between the action. 

 

After home but before work. After work but before the bar. After the bar but before your lover’s apartment. These in-between moments sometimes drag, you dread the experience itself because you just want to get where you’re going but in reality, these moments humble your eager mind. They physically and mentally force you to stop and wait. They oblige you to be bored. They allow the thoughts you want and the thoughts you don’t want to audition for your attention.