I'm in Amherst! Site of the beautiful Amherst College, dasher of hopes, rejector of senior-in-high-school me. I walked around campus in the drizzle yesterday, admiring the view of the Berkshires (or some other mountains) and mostly still wishing I could go there, like, now, starting this fall, as a freshman, all over again. I don't know what it is about it, but somehow

Amherst : me
chocolate cake : Bruce Bogtrotter

I'm staying at UMass, though, for Juniper. It's basically Camp Nerd--each evening's reading is held in this lecture hall in the chemistry building. They decorated with beakers filled with jewel-toned water, and goggles with bright green straps, and overheads projecting folky flowers and illustrations of whatever day of the week it is.

This afternoon Charles D'Ambrosio and I ate hummus and watermelon and rehashed my workshop. The whole thing was surreal. I offered him a piece of gum afterwards, and he said yes please.

Today in class he said, "You can't just write a sad story. There's gotta be more than that. Whenever you're sad, remember there are a billion Chinese who don't give a shit."