ha, exactly

from "Shouts & Murmurs" in the March 21st issue of The New Yorker:

III. How College Kids Imagine the United States Government

THE PRESENT DAY

—Did you hear the news, Mr. President? The students at the University of Pittsfield are walking out of their classes, in protest over the war.

—(spits out coffee) Wha— What did you say?

—Apparently, students are standing up in the middle of lectures and walking right out of the building.

—But students love lectures. If they’re willing to give those up, they must really be serious about this peace thing! How did you hear about this protest?

—The White House hears about every protest, no matter how small.

—Oh, right, I remember.

—You haven’t heard the half of it, Mr. President. The leader of the group says that if you don’t stop the war today they’re going to . . . to . . . I’m sorry, I can’t say it out loud. It’s just too terrifying.

—Say it, damn it! I’m the President!

—All right! If you don’t stop the war . . . they’re going to stop going to school for the remainder of the week.

—Send the troops home.

—But, Mr. President! Shouldn’t we talk about this?

—Send the troops home.

as long as it's not killing me

running water everywhere. everything's melting, and maybe it's a false spring but it's still spring-like and i am wearing a dress and ballet flats today. it will definitely be spring in california on friday (while weather.com forecasts wintry mix this weekend for you suckers staying in the northeast).

disoriented, exhausted, driven along by strange momentum...this morning has felt surreal and i keep trying to knock myself out of this state with drinks of water and walks outside (where everything's fresh and streaming along!) but in the end i'm back at the computer with three documents open and about a million books on the table. if i'm in shock right now, it's at least in part because these last several days of never-not-working have felt almost natural, like things make some sense: i think i know what i'm doing and the only hitch is to just keep doing it.
taken up residence in the study room. everything now depends on my body. i didn't wake up for class this morning and felt like a complete fool. especially since that class is a welcome relief from everything else. i was bowled over by Thelma & Louise, which might sound naive but it's a goddamn powerful movie.

and so this post is nothing more than a wave to the outside world, a need i'm feeling to communicate.