March 19, 2002

an interesting literary encounter

When I went to the library yesterday, in order to restock my truck with books on
tape for my commute, I couldn't resist taking out Miss Julia Takes Over,
despite the several books in my To Be Read pile. Of course, Miss Julia was
promptly moved to the head of the line because she is in a library book (and
besides, she wouldn't have it any other way.

When I headed up to
bed, I amused myself trying to picture an encounter between Miss Julia and that
other grande dame, Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody Emerson. Actually, I think
they would get along well, though there might be some initial friction; both women
have enough esteem for themselves and their sex that they tend to like other women
who are like them. At least eventually. And they would also respect each other for
having made new lives after escaping from the shackles of unsympathetic brothers
(Mrs. Emerson) and husband (Miss Julia). They also have that shared tendency to
adopt waifs and strays and to mold them (willing or not) into productive members
of society. Peabody's less conventional views of sex and religion might shock the
more staid Miss Julia, though I think the latter is inching gingerly leftward in
her beliefs.

Ick. Remind me not to go again to the truck that comes
by selling teriyaki chicken bowls. I'm not entirely convinced this meat began its
career as part of a chicken. And if it did, I wouldn't speculate as to which
part.

I ran into the woman whose desk was ext to mine at the last
company, in the gym this morning. She worked as sort of a project manager in
training there. She's been unemployed for four months now, yet another reason not
to take my six months out of work as anything personal. I don't know how hard
she's looking, since I'm sure she enjoys the time to spend with her kids. She has
one of the coolest last names I've ever encountered, being a nice Jewish girl who
married an Amerindian man and took his name -- on the order of Cynthia Black Bear.

Posted by dichroic at March 19, 2002 11:40 AM
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