Wednesday, September 25, 2013

February 10, 1977 (Letter from Harriet)

A trip to Northampton to see



Right now I'm in the student center at the University -- yes, I'm a student again!  My life has changed considerably and I wanted to tell you about it in excuse for my lack of correspondence. Oh, by the way, the reason why I sounded so dry over the phone when I spoke to you was that I was using the university watts line & I was sort of in a hurry.

Anyway, I have commenced my sojourn into the world of the scientist doing his preliminary studies.  I am taking a heavy course load consisting of "Geological Oceanography", "Chemical Oceanography", "Statistics in Research",  and Ballet (it's wonderful).  I have also begun some research with good promise of it metamorphosing into a masters thesis.  I have started to learn about the ocean plankton, (the little creatures which live on the ocean surface) something of which I know nothing about.  I am going to take water samples in a few sites in an estuary around here, identify the zooplankton, and then, by next year, have a good idea of the seasonal variation in the community of the river.  Then I will do somewhat of the same for bottom living animals at the same sites & correlate the two.  Since I can't identify any plankton yet, it is a self-teaching experience -- just me & my gold ol' microscope.  All of this, plus laboratories, reports, etc. makes for one pretty busy person.  My only weekend not spent working was when I went to Binghamton.  (Had a great time.)

Otherwise, things have been fine.  My tirp was great -- went to Arizona, California (L.A. & San Diego), and Denver, Colorado.  It was so nice -- I saw all of my close friends who have recently moved from the east, not to mention my closest friend from NYC.  It seems that we did so much in 3 weeks - -we even hit Mexico for a day.  Charlotte & I had a great time with each other, & all in all it was a fine break.

As you can tell from my recent trends, I just haven't been in a writing mood as of late -- I hope that you dont' take this to mean that I haven't been thinking of you because I have.  You are right, it is time we renewed our friendship.  It's so hard for me to plan on anything now though -- so hard to find time for anything except my immediate needs.  I am going to have to get things together. Anyway, I am going to try to get away for a day or so next weekend to Boston.  While I'm there, I'll probably see Tony.  If you get a chance, maybe we could see each other there.  If not, I'm not sure when I will be able to scrounging up another weekend before the spring  other than to see my folks in NYC.  Write or keep in touch -- I hope to see you soon.

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