2003-09-26 - 11:59 a.m.

This is going to be another brief entry, because I have to write YET ANOTHER draft of my application essay. The good news is that after my writing advisor read my essay he kept on saying "I feel like you're hiding something." I wasn't in the mood to deal with my essay, or with him, having spent the morning writing a contract, so finally I just said, "Look, go to this website and read just how much I hate writing essays like this." And he did, and he came back wondering why the Hell I was wasting my time trying to kiss ass with my essays and why I wasn't writing something as cool as this diary.

So if any Penn kids see Dr. Purpura around, tell him he rocks.

I wanted to briefly mention my night last night, my first night out after a fun weekend at ACL (still need to talk about how cool that was) and a hard week of work and applications. I saw Ginger Leigh play on her lawn with Patrice Pike, a well-known, kick ass Austin singer, and another guy named Eric Hisaw. Ginger and Patrice played off one another perfectly, improvising and scatting and having a blast. It was one of my funnest times at Ginger and Cindy's place, and I've had a load of fun there.

At the end of the evening, the cops showed up to charge Ginger with violating the noise ordinance, which went into effect at 11pm. They showed up at 11:01pm, but Ginger just kept playing, getting softer and softer as the cops approached, turning a usually exuberant song into a song of quiet contentment, and when it came time for us to sing along (as we always do when she sings the song), we also sang it as a whisper, which allowed are voices to blend beautifully. The cops walked through the crowd at that point, and a lot of us started laughing, because they couldn't stop us. We were just soft enough to keep them from doing anything, and we just sang our little song in a spirit of mirthful defiance. It was one of the best moments of protest I've ever experienced.

I really want everyone I know to come to Austin, to experience the music of Ginger Leigh, Hedda Layne, Patrice Pike, and Ruthie Foster. I was there last night and realized I had arrived exactly where I needed to be, and even if I left the next day, I wouldn't trade that evening for anything.

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