A book made in response to a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace to the Kenyon College graduates in 2005. The speech is about staying alert and attentive of what goes on around us, despite the boredom, and routine of our daily life. He tells not to get hypnotized by the constant monologue inside our head. I have juxtaposed this speech to another piece of writing written by Jonathan Franzen, in which he talks about his father’s Alzheimer’s disease. In this story, his father is doing the direct opposite of staying awake. He lives inside his head, day in, day out due to his disease.
