December 28, 2007 -- Friday afternoon

Reading Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. She's reading it for the story. She doesn't exactly believe in everything Rand says...like how idealistic the politics of our country are. Rand, she said, sort of forgets about all those years of free labor. But, she's with Rand and her other philosophies, like when she talks about people following their dreams, so she keeps reading. The book keeps her engaged.

Favorite authors--Alice Walker, especially a collection of essays about womanhood, and Toni Morrison, whose books she's read all of.

Her own book--it'd be about travel. She has a degree in anthropology and, as a result of her studies, she has wanderlust. Upon graduating from college, as a gift to herself--it was a fifteen year struggle--she visited Barbados and, while others were lying on the beach drinking rum, she was noticing commonalities between the social structure of the island and the Mississippi delta. You have shanties right next to middle class houses. Domestic help comes from Antigua.

Her friend, who she was waiting for, arrived while we were talking....which was a good thing--my coworkers almost had to send out a search party. The friend's favorite book--the bio of Malcolm X. She's read it twelve times and she loves seeing his journey, how he evolved in that era.