Paperwork

The Dreamer and his Wife are at college. They are sitting down at a round table with Alessandro, who is about 13. They are talking about his academics. Alessandro shares a paper with the Dreamer and his Wife. Then Alessandro is talking about a college party that he wants to go to. The Dreamer and his Wife agree that he can go. Alessandro asks them to accompany him, and they agree.

Then the Dreamer is at a college party, but he is separate from the party: he is reading an academic paper. His friend Patrick White snatches the paper from his hands, and walks away with it. The Dreamer follows Pat and asks why he did that. Pat says that is all the Dreamer is paying attention to. The Dreamer says that is what he is interested in, and that Pat doesn’t have to be interested in the same things. Pat turns to face the Dreamer and says thank you. Then the Dreamer is naked. Pat is naked. The Dreamer is exploring the party. The Dreamer walks by his friend Rory, who is aggressively masturbating in the hallway. Then the Dreamer goes to Rory’s basement. The Dreamer peeks downstairs. There are several people there, watching television. There are a few black people there: two women and one male. The Dreamer recognizes one of the black females as his friendly acquaintance, Karia. The other black female is looking at him, with an ambivalent look. The ambivalent black female is striking in that she looks very beautiful; she has a glow, she is wearing striking makeup.

Then the Dreamer is driving his truck across town. He reaches a cross-road where there are large logs in the road. He takes his truck over the large logs, almost tipping the truck, and keeps on moving. Then the Dreamer is inside of a building. He meets an unknown man who is working on a construction project. He has a document in his hand about the project. The unknown man laments to the Dreamer that the town is “all white”. The Dreamer says, “shut your mouth. You are lucky. You don’t need black people here. They don’t need you, either.”

Context: None

Associations: Alessandro, smart punk; Pat, fun, drunk; Rory, fun, bully, drunk; Karia, fun (without being drunk); academic work, interesting, but not fun; paperwork, necessary, but not fun.

Motifs: Paperwork is returning as a theme this week; in connection with reviewing documents and contracts, and the newspaper debris that the neighbor is diffusing with his leaf blower.

Feelings: sexual arousal, fear (of being different and of tipping over), ambivalence (over race issues), protection (over race issue)

Interpretation: This is a dream about the judging function in connection with a time in the Dreamer’s life, around 13 years old. The Dreamer and his Wife seem to be using poor judgement in authorizing the young boy to go to a college party, let alone a sex party; that’s not suitable for his age. The Dreamer also exhibits poor judgement in ploughing through the logjam in the road, that was dangerous. There is perhaps the suggestion that “paperwork” has become an addiction, like sex or partying and that the Dreamer is projecting negative affects such as “drunk”, when he also exhibits addictive behavior in his own basement; like “lipstick on a pig”. The Dreammaker is also suggesting that the Dreamer has a too aggressively “black or white” perspective on this issue; perhaps a softening of judgement would be helpful.