october 7th: ran today on three hours of sleep, and it wasn’t something i enjoyed — to say the least. drove up with j to keene so i could catch my 10:00 intro to historical studies lecture. on the way, we stopped in brattleboro, vermont. every weekend, i leave to go home to old saybrook, and as much as i hold that so close to my heart, there is no other smell than the smell of pine trees in vermont. i’m pretty sure i would live in vermont just because the smell reminds me of winter, and christmas. i raced to get lunch, while reading “rats,” by robert sullivan. it’s a book based on the observations of the history and habitat of the city’s most unwanted inhabitants: rats. i find it to be quite interesting. it actually edified me a part of the word i haven’t put much though into. sullivan refers to henry david thoreau — my favorite transcendentalist writer. the book kind of mirrors “walden.” one part of the passage this week is as follows, and it’s important, so put some of your thinking juices into it: “..we come and go. we are beaten down but we come back again. we live in colonies and we strike out on our own, or get forced out or starved out by our competition, by the biggest rats. we thrive in unlikely places and devour.” i believe sullivan is trying to make a ladder between rats and humans, which is completely brilliant in my opinion. i skipped environmental studies and did a ton of homework, and then went to the holocaust/genocide meeting. we watched some of schindler’s list, and then we spoke about our benefit concert: rock for darfur. i am currently in the process of getting state radio to come and play. 100% of our profits go to doctors without borders, and to those that need it in darfur. anyway, if you are interested, you can contact me at : carissa.kerpen@gmail.com. well, goodnight world.