This sculpture, a thirty foot high desk and chair, was built by Giancarlo Neri as a "monument to the loneliness of the writer." It's a striking piece, to be sure--I'd love to see it in person--and writing can indeed be a lonely art, but I always like to remember that I am not indeed isolated in a giant field; I can look up and see other people pecking away at their work (at least in a symbolic way) while I'm pecking away at mine, and I can feel a sense of communion with them that mitigates any sense of loneliness. Yes, the work is done in solitude, but it is also done in community, and I love dipping in and out of both. I love how we can find that sort of community online, where it's easy to connect our desks to other desks, where our desks are no longer like islands, but bridges.