Joy Stick
Joy Stick, 19x15, 2003, prisma bronze & raisen noir, carbon ink



In this drawing Donkey Kong and Pac Man are advertised around the working boy baling hay. At sixteen, Bally/Midway's Mrs. Pac Man was my first serious girlfriend. Each evening after washing dishes at my uncle's Pennsylvania Dutch smorgasbord, I stopped by the local gas station and gave her a half-dozen quarters. I joined the thousands of teen zombies, when Colecovision outperformed Atari and Intellivision in the early 1980's, with Defender and Venture. It even influenced my sketchbooks as I graphed out original game diagrams. Mennonites and Amish emphasized training their children in the value of hard work. It was a health-giving edification, unlike the abuse of the Industrial Age that brought about child labor laws. But amusing one's self always brought a certain amount of guilt when there was work to be done. In contrast, massive hours in front of the TV, or with hands around a joystick, have become a rite of passage in today's society.