Abby Goes to Calhoun

I got to sleep in a little bit today, so my day was very awake. It started with 20th Century American City. We discussed the assigned reading the whole class period. Apparently, I’m not on the same level in this class. They were all discussing activities they’ve done in the class involving immigration. I felt kind of lost , even though I read the assignment. The discussion ended with this: America-  melting pot or acidic bath? I then had Psychology. It was supposed to be a review day, but it ended up in the class getting way off topic again. We mostly talked about the Physco-Sexual Stages. Still, it’s very interesting, and it gets the class talking!

I then had a free period, during which I went for a walk with Robert, a junior who I’d never talked to before. He’s interested in philosophy and tried to debate everything I brought up. It was…interesting. Apparently he grew up in a Russian ghetto in Brooklyn.

Next was 2nd grade Social Studies with Carlise. At first, I didn’t think he had control of the class at all. They were so rowdy! But then, after they got settled and started their project, they were suddenly calm and fun to talk to. They were building stores to create a community built by the 2nd grade. One kid was building an alligator store that manufactured alligators from a machine. Another had a shark store. Kids are so funny. Fiona, a girl in the class, thought I was from Hawaii, for some reason.

During lunch, Comedy Troupe presented four short skits, written and directed by students in the course. It was hilarious! The best part was the first improv skit, done by my two friends Ben and Samuel. Words cannot discribe the hilarity.

Then it was time for English. Wow. The class was split into two, and each group discussed an impossibly difficult theme of the book. One group discussed Vardaman and the fish. We discussed Darl’s monologue on page 81. Here it is:

“In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for sleep, you are not. And when you are filled with sleep, you never were. I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not. Jewel knows where he is, because he does not know that he does not know whether he is or not. He cannot empty himself for sleep because he is not what he is and he is what he is not. Beyond the unlamped wall I can hear the rain shaping the wagon that is ours, the load that is not longer theirs that felled and sawed it not yet theirs that bought it and which is not ours either, lie on our wagon though it does, since only the wind and the rain shape it only to Jewel and me, that are not asleep. And since sleep is is-not and rain and wind are was, it is not. Yet the wagon is, because when the wagon is was, Addie Bundren will not be. And Jewel is, so Addie Bundren must be. And then I must be, or I could not empty myself for sleep in a strange room And so if I am not emptied yet, I am is.

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.”

Wow.

I would write what I think that might possibly mean, but I can’t translate my notes into text. It’s just a mess.

I love Faulkner.