Summer Reads

This summer I have read The Mole People (about the homeless in NYC subway tunnels), Nickeled and Dimed (one brave journalist gave it all up to work min. wage jobs and failed to support herself), Disgrace ( a fiction that won the Nobel in Lit. it was an unfortunate story... very well written) I also read the Nanny Diaries for fun... which it was, though stressful to read as a former NYC nanny.

I am currently reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I have always wanted to read this book. It's like the Catcher in the Rye or Of Mice in Men. It frequently comes up in conversation and is a very "American" book. As far as history is concerned, it gives the a glimpse into the mindset of a generation of drugs, jobs, and travel. So why haven't I read this book already? Either school never assigned it or they did in my teenage rebelion and I chose not to read it. Much like my dear friend Jack, I grew up in Lowell, went to college in NYC, my family is now in Jersey, and I want to be a write. For those reasons alone, I thought it was worth a read.

Some of my college buddies tell me that I might be the next big thing, if I can prompt myself to take a drug-induced hike across the nation. For now, I want to keep trucking through the gospel of the beatnik generation, though working has left me to tired to finish it. Sometimes I wonder if my life really could be this exciting? Is it the drugs or his willingness to put himself into any situation that comes forth.

I have a little black rain cloud that hovers over me at times and helps me find truely akward and literary situations. Could I possibly do the trip with out the drugs? Based on experience alone? Don't get me wrong, I don't think I could every measure up to the Great American Classic. But reading the bio. and the first half of the book has really inspired me to do something great. Maybe not right now, but some day.