Some of the kids he interviewed referenced hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and self-harm, all driven by the fact that they were so utterly and torturously alone under these conditions.
Thereafter, Michael himself begins to demonstrate the same elusive symptoms, whose subtly mystical character and tendency to come and go torturously suggest that the problem may be in his head.
At intervals, new generations had tried to break the routine of the contemporary concert, with its faculty-lounge chatter and its torturously long pauses as mallet instruments were transported around the stage.