Monday, January 17, 2005
Before the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. became a reverend or a doctor, he had a little white friend whose mother eventually disallowed him from playing with the little non-reverend-non-doctor. I read that when I was little, and it saddened me, although I had no desire myself to make friends of any colour or shape.
I exhibited this morning some degree of amity with a girl and a fellow who, as did I, arrived at the dining hall early for to secure breakfast-vittles. We stood impatiently until the manager opened the door- she informed us the halls were on weekend (id est, later) hours due to the holiday. I believe if he had been around to observe the situation, the good reverend would have been outraged to know we three were kept waiting a half-hour on his account.
At any rate, I consumed a lovely breakfast in the company of new people (I forget their names). The girl arrived from New Jersey this semester, and the boy is a music education major. I informed them of the current campus scandal: the school suspended this semester its policy of allowing students to charge books and certain supplies to tuition. Barnes and Noble installed a campus bookstore a few years ago that, naturally, took some business from the two private bookstores located on the street parallel to the school. The two private owners threatened to sue the university on the grounds it violated some obscure law code, withdrawing the suit only if the university ceased allowing students to bill books to tuition. In order to avoid ugliness, the university did suspend its policy, although it apparently (according to the campus newspaper) did not break any law.
The loans The Father and I took out this semester left plenty of balance to account for the books I need, but I instead used every cent I earned over the holiday to pay for books. I hope the private store owners develop gangrene.
The good reverend would be furious.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 8:02 AM]