French lit obsessives might recall a character from Camus’s The Plague who spends years reworking the opening sentence of a novel. It’s a commentary on the human condition, or some shit…anyway, Butler library the Columbia library system, which has inspired everyone from Max Weber to Orhan Pamuk, could well have its own resident serial re-writer/tormented literatus. Meet Butler lounge denizen Marcos, C ’98, today’s victim of…

Why are you here?

I’m writing a novel.

What’s it about?

I have no idea.

How long have you been working on it?

Five years. 

Why are you writing it here of all places?

I’m an alumnus…they have good coffee.

I notice you’re usually holding court with people at one of the booths…

I’m procrastinating.

So you aren’t here for the intellectual stimulation?

That and the procrastination.

Exhilarating! In other totally unrelated news: the New York Daily News has deemed upperclassman dive 1020 an accurate barometer of public opinion. 1020’s opinion: last night’s “Soprano’s” finale sucked ass.

-ARR