5

From LaSuprema:

What a year I've had! I started grad school in January of 2000 with an eye to becoming a
librarian, but soon changed my mind and settled on a future in Archival Enterprise. Yep,
that's right, I'm gonna be an archivist. You're jealous aren't ya. Don't lie.

Just when I had started kicking myself for going back to school, I received an
acceptance letter from The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's
Archives Center/Lemelson Center internship program. I got to go to DC for the summer
and learn to be an archivist from some of the coolest geeks in the biz.

On the way east, I stopped off in Fayetteville, AR to give a paper at the Society
of Southwest Archivists annual meeting. Next, I met Susan in Memphis for a week of the
three Gs: good times, Graceland, and the Grifters (see our website for photos). We saw
the Grifters' fantastic reunion show (they are back together, don't you know)--they were
incredible as ever!

DC as a city kinda sucks. It has some good points, like tons of American
cultural heritage on display. It's population is incredibly diverse, but there's an eerie vibe
due to the fact that you're at, like, nuclear war ground zero and surrounded by the evil
federal government. Plus, as my Aunt Sally (the hippest paleontologist I've ever met)
ominously declares, "Every student council president in America moves here." Despite
the obvious benefits of living in the capital of the free world, I was glad to have the
opportunity to get the hell out of there after three short months. This had nothing to do
with my living arrangement, or the internship, which was both fantastic and paid. (I'll tell
you a little story some time...)

When my servitude was through, my mother met me for the return roadtrip. On
the way home to Texas, we stopped off at several of the premier roadside attractions
including the burial place of Stonewall Jackson's arm (read the hilarious and chilling
Confederates in the Attic for a full account), and The Museum of Beverage Containers
and Advertising just north of Nashville. We give them both five stars. We also stopped
in--you guessed it--Memphis.

I'll spare you the agony of Fall 2000 (aka: How School Continues to Ruin My
Life) and skip right ot my third Memphis visit of the year. Am I obsessed? Your guess is
as good as mine, but I've found Memphis to be a lovely vacation spot and it is closer than
Chicago or New York and much cheaper.

Susan and I went to Memphis in December. This time we drove up on Friday
and saw comedian-extraordinaire Dave "Deuces" Dunlap open for the Grifters that night.
We had the best gut-bomb breakfast in the South at Brother Juniper's on Saturday and
wasted the rest of the day lying around our hotel room as if we weren't on holiday at all.
We roused ourselves in the evening and went to Graceland to see it as it was when Elvis
decorated for Christmas. Need I tell you it was lovely? It was.

This spring has been pretty dull. I'm basically just holding my breath until I
graduate and can have a real life without the constant threat of impending doom. (I really
don't know how I made it this far in the academic world with my attitude.)

So why the dear diary article? I guess I just wanted to prove I really was doing
something while Susan was keeping GW alive. That's right--this is Susan's issue. See
what beautiful things can happen when I just get the fuck out of her way. The girl's a
firecracker, I tell ya. (She got me into the 'zine business in the first place, you know.) I
did some leg work on this issue, but really this is the superior product of LaInferioria. So
here's to Geek Weekly's seventh anniversary! And here's to teamwork!