GENTRIFICATION ON THE BLOCK,
A SHOWMAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE,
ETHICS GONE. THIS IS THE 1980S.
Mark starts out in suburban New Jersey, where
housing developments and shopping malls provide
cover for medical scams, divorces and abortions.
He moves on to film-biz-saturated Los Angeles,
harboring Afghan freedom fighters and damaged
survivors of Hollywood's entertainment-making
machine. Back east in rapidly gentrifying New York
City, he falls in with art snobs, literary luminaries
and real estate operators, all making the most
of trickle-down economics.
Law school and extreme anxiety are on the horizon,
followed by a foray into France and encounters
with Eastern religion, an early wave of terrorism
and the burgeoning right wing movement
that is its corollary.
Everyone is looking for anything but what they already have.
Mark is no exception.
