6/5/2002 - 9:28 p.m.
Heading out of Annapolis in the passenger seat of a Baltimore resident's car, the sudden chill of the air conditioning combined with the brightness of the sun and--most importantly--the giddiness of being there, to cause a clean rush of brain-chemical pleasure that reminded me of rolling. Perhaps the feeling also involved my sleep deprivation.
My life is characterized by cycles of recovery and collapse. This would be the appropriate moment to reflect on the number of times I have moved from periods of happiness to periods of despair in my life, or vice-versa, sometimes gradually, sometimes rapidly.
Yet instead I'll flash back to this afternoon on the top steps of the William Paca Garden in Annapolis, when I finally cornered Mark Leone after he sent us loose to explore the garden. Mark Leone is the director of the program, although his graduate-student associate director actually runs the thing, but Leone is the head of the University of Maryland Anthropology Department and wrote the articles on Annapolis that inspired my thesis. "I'm [me], from New College of Florida, I work with Uzi Baram and Maria Vesperi there. I'm writing my thesis with them using your articles as my theoretical basis. They wanted me to tell you that they say hello."
"They sent you," he said, as if it explained something. Interestingly, almost everyone in the field school is from Maryland, most already students at the University of Maryland. "They might have mentioned you," he said, and I was a little stunned. "You're getting a great education there. [Brief separation pause.] You probably have lots of questions. Ask me when we get down to the porch." And then he said he had to ask the curator a favor, and was off.
Mark Leone is amazing, when he's here. Virtually the entire task of running the field school has been delegated to his inept graduate school deputy, the associate director. Some of us will ferment a revolution over beers if he doesn't start thinking about what he's going to say before beginning lecturing.
Anyway, mentioning Uzi and Maria may do me some good in the future. Before I left, in a telephone conversation Maria mentioned that the University of Maryland has a good applied anthropology master's degree program. Both a continuation of academic studies and moving to wards practicality, Maria sensed, I think, that it fits with my own interests.
And Maryland has treated me well so far--so much more stimulating than Florida. However, when I went to the 1-bedroom apartment of another student who I'm carpooling with, and asked her how much she was paying for it, she said $1000. A month?! I clarified. She nodded, "Because it's right next to campus." Actually, it's a 5-10-minute car trip depending on traffic. Holy shit, I thought, that's as much as Kit paid to lease the entire Leeta House!
Today, though, I went shopping at a College Park supermarket, and found it was very well attuned to College Student's demands. Huge shelves of Raman noodles, pasta, sauce, instant box foods, as well as prepared hot foods. It kept costs down by being dinghy, and making you bag your own groceries. It was also laid out awkwardly, with some aisles going in odd directions and others extending up to the ceiling of the store.
Have you seen the new Publix recently opened on University, where the management offices are on balcony overlooking the store, so management can watch you as you shop? The aisles are laid out in nice, ordered rows, and it's open, well-lighted, clean, everything in its place.
Where panopticism is a pleasure.
