Jacob Lawrence, The Apartment (1943)

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April 29, 2006:

In the pictures he looks happy.

There's a cake that says "Welcome". His mother stands thin and dark-haired, pretty, even glamorous. He smiles away: cowlick, red cheeks, a kind-faced boy in the early '60s, pre-Beatles, not yet growing his hair.

Was it like that?

His memories are of boredom, of patronization by disinterested adults, above all of his parents' pressure to be someone else. Explicit pressure: they explained it that way. "Just be what they want you to be. It'll only last while we're here."

Was that true?

When did it end?

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