Heath Row Goes to College IV

Postmarked Nov. 4, 1991

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks oh so much for the letter! Ha. Mr. B. (or B.) called last night to ask whether he could send the contract to our home or my campus address. I said to send it here. He has me in mind for business manager, who is in charge of the camp budget, parent picnic fees, bills, etcetera. I realize I haven't had much experience doing any of that stuff, but I think I could do a good job.

Looking at the calendar, I told him that the earliest I'd be able to start would be the week of June 13th. He seemed a bit disappointed that I would miss the camp staff week and the start of the season, but said we could work something out. Yet, this proposes a quandary. Should I move toward taking this job this soon or sould I hold off until the other opportunities present themselves as I look into the media jobs we've previously discussed, such as the Janesville Gazette, Daily Union, WSJY, and what have you? I;d like to look into these a tad more before writing them off for the camp job, but I don't want to discount that job because it seems rather available and almost reserved for me. I realize it's not, but I don't want to lose it because of a delay that'll have me working at McDonald's for the summer.

Enough of that. Please give me some input. Midterms all went as well as could be expected. A- on my history essay, and D. (my TA) said that he was impressed with some of my insights. I just have to work on my organization for the final. I'm afraid I rambled a bit in the beginning. A (94%) on my statistics test, and I could've done better. The grad student who corrected the test wrote "Good test" on the top of the first page. Perhaps he did this on everyy A, but that's still good. Of course, I got a B on the sociology test. On the American government test, I got a B on the curve. So I actually did pretty well for this first quarter so far. I only have to continue this level of academic excellence. Ha.

Working on my first real city desk story. Yes, I chose the city desk. Why? I like the editor and assistant editors, and the other staff writers on the desk. People have told me that papers respect students that have had city desk experience because the stories are more "real." For some reason, the university microcosm isn't held in the same light as a city. So I thought I'd get involved in the Evanston scene and see what makes the city tick. Heath Row, intrepid reporter. The city is my beat. Evanston is my city.

Other than that, it is extremely cold here. It actually snowed here today. Nothing on the ground yet, though. Very windy and very cold. Ack. All the people here that came from Florida or Arizona are freaking out because they've never been this cold. Of course, I'm used to is and constantly amaze people with my nonchalant attitude to going outside.

Turns out that the FCC changed their ruling to state that people need not pay for educational licenses. If we want, we can get out money back. But if I'm thinking of possible working at a radio station for the summer or in the relatively near future, should I take the refund? Then again, $35 is a nice bit of money to have. Any comments? I think I may take the refund because I can always pay later if I need to get one, and then the money won't be wasted if I never do anything commercial.

How're things in Fort? I called today (11/02/91) to discuss the camp staff stuff more in depth, but you were out. I think it's great that you guys finally have a social life. It seemed like you were always staying home because of B. and I. Classes are swell, all is well. Have a nice day.

Oh, lest I seem heartless and unappreciative, thanks a lot for the cookies. They came as a total surprise and were very good. One cookie, however, had no chips. I was going to send the tin back and demand a replacement, but you know... postage. Have a nice day for real now.

Dad: How do you justify on Appleworks? Do you have to do it at top and bottom or just top or what? Please tell...

I just realized that all the pants I wear on a day-to-day basis are jeans. I need to get some day pants that aren't dressy. Can't wear denim forever. Mom'll be proud. I now wear T-shirts when I wear dress shirts. It's silly, the fuss I made about it in the past (not too far distant, either...)

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