What

The word “WHAT” is used here not as a question but as a statement. This is WHAT — preferably used entirely on its own so as not to necessitate a sentence-ending period. That punctuational detritus, necessary for proper sentences, is not in the spirit of WHAT as a standalone, floating entity.

WHAT

Empty billboards like this utter WHAT in perpetuity. A continuous statement of existence.

An empty billboard makes no commercial advertising statement. It exists as an abstraction, an existential slate filled by the mental energies of human minds.

This empty shell of advertising space looms over Queens Plaza, one of the noisiest places I know. A green space was set up there a year or two ago. The noise of the subway overhead shakes the ground. Sitting there more than a few minutes makes me nauseous.

I just noticed the “special characters” button on the visual editor toolbar. Why do these characters not get more use, and more of a presence on standard keyboards? They are accessible via alt-1234 sequences or, in Windows, via copy and paste using the charmap.exe widget. I have a number of alt-number sequences memorized. ½ is alt-0189. éè are alt-0233 and alt-0232. Those two letters also look funny right next to each other.

éè

WHAT