on reading A Midsummer Night's Dream

One wants, of course, to play Puck or Oberon, but I have not the figure for either. You'll forgive me, though, if I believe that I would make a pretty fair Bottom.

I did find the textbook today. It was shelved under the editor's, rather than the author's, name. It is a comprehensive, well-annotated and supremely ugly book. It most resembles one of the vanity publications at That Place -- 8-1/2 x 11, monstrously thick, type showing through the paper, and a chunk of colour plates inserted partway through. The cover is slightly better (coated without the tendency to curl), but it is (off)white, with a big picture of Will in the middle and a serif title centred underneath it. It's serviceable, without any beauty, and damned expensive. I'm half-thinking I ought to have got the Norton instead, although it isn't his preferred text.

Maybe I can make something of it with collage.

On Beauty and Being Just has come up for me at the library! I am feeling guilty in all directions because now that class has started, I should be focusing my reading on Shakespeare and his immediate galactic cluster, rather than all this contemporary fiction. If I were really decent, I'd release all my holds and start over with books about Will. I'm going to take On Beauty and Being Just, though, because it sounded eccentric and fascinating, and made Zadie Smith write a novel. I am also going to try to finish The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

If I have any theory books of yours, I might beg to keep them to read over the winter break, so I can prepare for Theory in the spring.

{rf}

I am considering posting the following warning in the staff kitchen

(Alongside the usual exhortations to wash your own dishes and remove your own garbage):

Please do not overfill the kettle, turn it on, and walk away from it, resulting in a fountain of boiling water over the counter and various electrical appliances.

With maybe a little diagram explaining the top line on the kettle.

{rf}