March 10, Monday evening -- Reading LR Holben and Alex Haley

At a bus stop on 18th Street, in front of, quite possibly, the only hair salon in the world that doubles as a pet supply shop. Fish food and highlights. They do a good business.

I was late to celebrate a friend's birthday, but I couldn't resist asking if I could take their pictures. How often is it that 100% of the people at a bus stop are reading. On my BART train this morning, in the 12 seats around me only 2 people were reading (and yes, I did count--I'm neurotic). That's only about 17%. Maybe pet shop hair salons cause rampant literacy. I frequently see people reading here.

Reading What Christians Think about Homosexuality: Six Representative Viewpoints, by LR Holben. She grew up in Uzbekistan as the daughter of American Missionaries. She can speak Uzbek. ...and English, though, at her Uzbek school her teacher actually gave her a B in the English class. How, she doesn't know. Her English was better than the teacher's. She goes to school and is, so she has more time to read, switching her major to English ....hopefully the grading scale won't be as steep as abroad! Her favorite book--Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë.

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Reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told by Alex Haley. Her favorite authors: Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins. (The bus came and I couldn't ask more questions.)

About what percentage of people read at your bus stop?