I want to write

something other than this boring academic article on writing instructor identity.

I want to use this phrase "emblematic representation" because it reminds me of that time that you got rid of your dining room table and replaced it with a photograph of a table from a magazine--all the items previously placed upon the table now resided, meticulously arranged exactly as they had been before, atop the photograph on the floor. I laughed at first, perhaps I even enjoyed the irreverent madness of the idea, but then you took it too far. Now the only "real" piece of furniture in the house is the bed. Everything else has been replaced with photographs. I sat on the photograph of the sofa that now occupied the bit of sunlit space beneath the bay window and thought "this is our love." The conclusion was stunning. I let out a long breath and laughed, and almost cried, in spite of myself. I knew it must be said out loud, "This is our love, baby, look at it. Our love has been reduced to this glossy emblematic representation of what we think love is supposed to be."