It happens every fall, about a month after school starts. An intern at the Agency’s web division will come to me, a puzzled, yet hesitant expression on his/her/its face. “Hilatron?” he/she/it will ask. “I have a concern. I’ve been seeing a lot of referrals from people searching for the phrase ‘leisure agency,’ and I’ve realized that this term means something different to the world at large than it does here. Don’t you think this will confuse people? Aren’t you worried about having our image tied to those of realtors and resorts?”

It is true. By naming ourselves as we have, we risk being ignored, misunderstood or marginalized by the general population. But let’s face facts: we’re little guys fighting big guys, and these are risks faced by anyone who takes on the Man for the greater good.

The decision to call ourselves The Leisure Agency is neither accidental nor unfortunate. We are not worried about confusing people; we want to confuse them, because in that split-second of “Huh?” lies the opportunity for enlightenment. We know that most people who have typed “leisure agency” into their search engine will puzzle at our site for a few seconds at most before moving on, but a few – perhaps one in hundreds of thousands – will stay. That one person will see something reflected in these pages that they have known all along, deep down inside. The person we want to reach is the person with Leisure coursing through their veins, the person who turns confusion into opportunity, the person who sees something that doesn’t fit into a designated box and wants more of it. That person is our ally.

By calling ourselves The Leisure Agency, we hold ourselves up in contrast to those who would create a “leisure industry” (shudder), or who promise the “ultimate leisure experience” in exchange for a monthly fee. By confusing people, we hope that some will make the leap from “Wait! Something’s wrong here” to “…and what’s wrong is the way things are!”

It is vital for the Agency to brook no compromise on this issue, no matter how inconvenient. Part of our mission is to redefine the very concept of “leisure” from prescribed and prepackaged pleasure grudgingly doled out by higher authorities, to a force that is there for the taking at any time, for any free-thinking being. How can we claim to be working toward this goal if we allow the Man to define the terms? This is why we capitalize Leisure in our official documents – to distinguish our vision of Leisure from the false idol “leisure” embodied by hermetically sealed resort environments, the vapid sales vehicle of uncriticized television, and “one paid week off per year.”

The fight against the system that presents “leisure” as a controlled and nonrenewable commodity is going to be a tough one. Our capable Agents will face accusations of laziness and frivolity; they will be mocked and ignored; they will suffer the consequences of their alliance with our cause. It is our duty to stand firm in representing the principles that brought The Leisure Agency into being, the better to provide a foundation for their struggle. And so we will go on, bearing the name of Leisure with pride, knowing that, no matter how many or few people recognize it, our definition is the right one.

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