It's another lovely sunny Tuesday at RCC. I'm in the library again killing some time before my next class at 1:30.

In English we have our first assignment, to write a subjective descriptive essay. Easy. Laurencell made us write a rough draft too- gag -but whatever. I finished it, all I need to do now is fine-tune it in the final draft. I decided to write about the photo lab. Here's some bits of it:

"Perhaps it's a natural talent, or by now a learned ability, but my eyes, and certainly my emotions, adjust well to the darkness. Although long known to evoke fear in man, the shadows instead wrap around me like friends instead of the enemy. The soft darkness fills me with a sense of peace. I even like the rosette glow the strange safelights cast over everything. It is when the true lights are turned on that I begin to feel uncomfortable: that pale white flourescence is too sharp and cold for me, and turns the darkroom into a stranger by erasing its mystery....

I enjoy as well the privacy of the darkroom, even when I'm not alone. The space at each enlarger on the counter that encircles the room becomes my own private world. I become absorbed in the click of the timed light and f-stop dial, the slide of the negative hold and the hushed flip of paper. It is usually very quiet, but the occasional murmur of talk is a pleasurable background noise. With so select a group granted access, it is a companionable setting of understanding and shared purpose. And when I work by myself, I feel like a solitary wanderer trapped not unwillingly in a hidden land...."

I'm going to go now, sit outside and read more of Bloodhound, sip my Dr. Pepper and scan for more photos to take. I have both cameras with me today, digital Persephone and film Iris, as I'll be using the latter in Black and White Darkroom later on today.

God, I do love it here. I know I'm just a community college girl, but I'm happy and damn proud. Maybe it has to do with this new taste of freedom. I've left the institution of involuntary schooling behind. I can't believe I was ever afraid of the idea of college.