15 March 2002 ~ End of quarter; everybody READ THIS...

Well, I made it. Today was my last class of the quarter. Now, I have only my evaluation meeting left. ("Evaluation Meeting" = Greener-speak for "student-teacher conference," but everybody gets one, not just the bad kids...) My program threw together a potluck lunch for our last class: a "mediaeval feast," because the program was Mediaeval and Renaissance Art and Science.

I brought home-made applesauce, and some girl was like, "wow, home-made applesauce! I wish I knew how to make that, but it's so hard to cook!" I didn't tell her that the Ultra-Secret Pennsylvania Deutsch recipe for applesauce doesn't include anything but apples, water, heat, and a spoon. I like feeling special.

...And then again, some people really can't cook. Louise tried to make a scrambled egg one time, and it turned black.

Anyway.

I spent most of yesterday downtown. I mailed out some letters, bought some groceries (apples, hard pear cider -- the kind Brian got me TRASHED on in Santa Fe), and sat in a nice sunny coffeehouse all day reading and staring at passersby. Some things never change. Hell; my first non-Evergreen friend in Olympia is a freakin' barrista. I swear to gahd, nothing about me ever, ever changes -- just the scenery.

It was warm yesterday. Windy, but warm. I stood in the middle of some train tracks (on this deliciously trashy-looking corner of Oly; reminds me of Clinton Street) yesterday on the way to the post office, just grinning at the sun. Let no one tell you that it doesn't get sunny in Washington. They're lying to you. It's sunny every damned day.

ANYWAY.

Everybody listen up now. I've been blathering on about sunshine and applesauce, but NOW you have to listen. Are you paying attention yet? Well, you'd freaking better be...

I need your help -- and last time I asked for opinions, nobody emailed me. Not one single solitary soul. This time, I'm expecting you to do better! Listening?

Next quarter, I am making my own reading list instead of having the professor make one for me. I am going to read one book every week (that's ten, FYI). See, in high school, we mostly read really lame, shitty books, and I couldn't enjoy the ones that weren't lame, because my teachers always beat them to death with nonsense about symbolism and "analytical discussion." Somewhere between high school and now, I discovered that a lot of books DON'T actually suck. But I still haven't read that many, particularly those one might call "classics." Don't get me wrong; I've started reading some of those. I even actually made it all the way through "On the Road" last year, even though I hated it and wanted to kick Jack Kerouac's ass through a fucken windshield afterwards.

So anyway, I need some book recommendations from you guys for my reading list. I'm trying to get a pretty good variety of writing styles going on. Hopefully, my list will be mostly modern-ish stuff (because I really don't want to pick through the fucken Canterbury Tales), and mostly narratives instead of textbook stuff, and mostly not anything you could ever, ever buy in a drugstore or a truck stop.

YOUR assignment -- yes, YOU -- is to make me a list of a bunch of books or authors you like, and EMAIL it to me. Even if all you do is write me and say: "I read The Great Gatsby in high school and thought it was crap, so don't read that one," your input is valuable. If you email me and say: "Helena, I'm completely illiterate," that's valuable too, because at least I know you're paying attention. If you email me and say: "I hate to read, and words and language and books can all fucking go to hell, but good luck with your class," I will even be happy with that. ANYTHING. But for the love of gahd, I've only got one book on my list, and I expect you guys to help me fix that.

[You: "Rawr! Helena, what're you being such a twatrag for?"]

I'm not being a twatrag. Here's how this works; you're reading this journal for whatever reason, so obviously it's providing you with a modicum of entertainment. I'm not charging you or anything -- that would be dumb -- so now you get to submit your payment in the form of an email with a book recommndation in it. Hey, if I read lots of books, maybe I'll finally figure out how to freaking write, and this journal will be even more entertaining for you. It's a win-win situation. So. No more stalling: EMAIL me: belong@angelfire.com.

Off to gather some roots and berries so I don't have to eat in the cafeteria tonight...

Love,
~Helena*