This paper reminded me of Deer Lodge and You. Did I tell you how good it was to hear your voice again? Honest, I was quite overwhelmed by it, and very pleased Especially since you didn't sound sad and I was less worried about you when we hung up. Thank you so much for calling.
About "our bookstore" -- (heh, heh). Actually, it's fast becoming an obsession. I spoke to Brook about its not only being a dream but a reality in a few years hence, expecting him to put this in perspective and say, "No, it won't work -- we'll never get money" and various other sundry statements. (Not that he's a negative person, but he's very realistic and not a featherhead like me.) But -- lo and behold -- he was very excited by the idea and was even full of ideas of his own! I told him he could be the acquisitions person for technical subjects and have the title "Chief Consultant for technical programs" and he was quite pleased. Of course, I don't think this will come about very soon but it's definitely a favorite possibility of mine at the moment (it also appears as a happy escape from the humdrums of daily library routine!) Maybe when (not if) you come see us in September we can all sit down over a lovely (ahem) dinner and discuss it? Anyhoo -- it's something to plan and save for. Now that I have something specific we thought it might be a good idea if I saved some of my salary (paltry though it is) for this possibility. If it fell through I'd still have some money and I find it difficult to save if there's no need in sight.
Anyway, I must leave for work now. There's a "faculty meeting" today and I've got to try and get there earlier (bleaaghhh!) But I will definitely finish this letter as soon as possible! pronto-immediatement.
April 9, 1975 -- Not quite so immediately, huh? Well, things have been happening quite weirdly here lately (not so unusual in my weird life, though). Yesterday when I was at work I (thank God) answered the phone call and it just happened to be for me. (I share the director's office and phone so she was sitting right there.) Anyway, I answered the phone and gave my name and this woman on the line says, "Grayce, I'm glad I got you -- I want to know if you're still interested in the job you applied for with Fisher Employment Agency (I applied for this around Xmas time and just figured they would laugh at me because they wanted someone with 10-15 years experience. Not hearing, I figured that was that. But for them to call me at work! I was not too pleased and couldn't say I couldn't talk there because sister would have wanted to know what was going on. So I waited until this woman guessed what the situation was and just said "no" to every question she tried to ask me. She must have thought I was a real basket case! Finally, she said she knew I couldn't talk and gave me her phone no and asked when I could call her. Well, I called this morning and expressed my surprise since they obviously wanted an older person. She said they might be willing to hire a young person for the position if they were creative and innovative and could get some new programs going so the library would be used more. She said when they read my resume and saw that I was interested in pottery (!) and that I had had lots of jobs in which I came into contact with people they thought I might be good. (Personally, I don't know what pottery could do me any good in this way -- but.) Anyway, I told her I only have 1 month to sign my Seton Hill contract so they'd have to let me know right away and she set up an appointment with me at 10:00 Friday (11th). I am really scared. I don't think they'll be very impressed because I can't think of any really different ideas to get a bunch of advertising (that's what the company is) people to use the library. They're very big and have offices in San Francisco, N.Y., Phila, Chicago, and a few other places. I'm just going to go in cold and be calm (if that out-of-character role is possible for me to play!) and hope the Holy Spirit will enlighten me. I'm kind of ambivalent about this whole thing, because I was looking forward to being part-time (lazy wretch that I am) and also because I feel very unprincipled in being so devious about this. I'm sure this isn't an ethical thing I'm doing, especially after sister went through all that trouble to let me not work evenings. I'm not taking responsibility for my decision to stay at SHC and I feel like I'm just cheating my soul in some way. (One of my friends told me that I just like to suffer and so place myself in a situation where I'm likely to suffer most -- in some ways, he may be very correct, I guess.) I suppose, since fate has been very kind to me so far, that I should leave myself in her hands and que sera era? But I haven't had such hellish mood swings since ages ago.
Ever since graduation from VU, I've been about 8 feet away from reality, I think. I think this job would push me into confronting reality but I'm not sure if I would be successful in that confrontation. I don't like reality much. I guess that's why I like philosophy. They just can't go hand in hand. Even ethics is far above reality in many situations.
So -- right now I'm keeping myself busy by sewing like a maniac. I've made a coat, a dress and a smock in a two-week period (unusual for me) and I don't think I'm finished yet!
I'm also busy with preparations for a little luncheon I've giving my friends at Seton Hill who are graduating. Olga, Linda, Lauri, and Anne have been so good to me, especially when I was living there and had no one to be with. They even gave me a "bachelor party" the night before I left. They are all really sweet and Lauri is going to Africa in the Peace Corps so I won't see her for a long time; Anne is going back to Virginia and I don't imagine I'll see her very often, either. Olga lives outside Pgh but I don't think she'll stay. She wants to do something with ceramics and her uncle is a potter in Calif -- so...the only one who will still be here will be Linda who is (even though I warned her quite vehemently) going to GSLIS! She has a B.A. in bio which I feel will really be wasted in library school. But she's convinced! (And I sincerely hope I did nothing to convince her.) Anyway, I wanted to have a little graduation -- I'll miss hosting the thing here but the house just isn't ready -- not by a long shot, so I've decided to have it at a restaurant, but I haven't decided which one -- I suppose it depends on who much money I can spend. Oh, well, I'm sure this is all very interesting to you.
Now, take care.
P.S. Do you have a fireplace?
P.P.S. I saw a nightgown that had "Sylvester" all over it. It was a floor length tee-shirt.
No comments:
Post a Comment