Summer Reading

Here's a quick summary of my summer reading materials: four characters in the last three books have hanged themselves. (And yes, my summer reading experience has been just as emotionally-exacting as it sounds).

It goes like this: every morning, I get on the train, trying to cheerfully juggle my lunch, coffee mug, purse and water bottle - all while wearing heels. Yes, I'm up at an ungodly hour, and no, I am not yet making enough money to fund my lavish shoe-and-travel-tastes, but ultimately, life is good. By the end of my 45-minute train ride, however, I have been thoroughly traumatized by my apparent magnetism for darker plot lines. (My current read has not yet offered up suicide number five, but with malaria, star-crossed lovers and political unrest, it's an ideal template). The books have all been amazing, don't get me wrong, but somehow I can't quite switch gears that often first thing in the morning (breakfast with Dad, Nigerian immigrant suicide in British farmhouse (reading on train), Dig team meeting, British journalist suicide in his study (reading during lunch), writing some press releases and home for dinner). At the very least, I should be reading these books in the privacy of my home, instead of tearing up next to the unsuspecting commuter next to me.

So, I'm determined to make a reading-material-switch. I'm on track to finish The Poisonwood Bible tonight, and I need to find something new for my train rides tomorrow. Instead of leaving it until two minutes after I should have been rushing out the door (as per usual - and then somehow getting stuck grabbing a literary gem, chock full of suicide and a day's worth of in-work depression), I am going to preemptively buy a happy book from the bookstore.

This one popped up as a recommendation with my Border's Rewards coupon today: Juliet. This sort of cross-generational love story (with a mystery-to-be-solved twist) seems unlikely to contain genocide, rape or characters reaching for the rope. I anticipate happily riding the train while my main character falls in love with the contessa's son, and if it all goes horribly wrong, I'll back here with mascara-stained cheeks, demanding book suggestions.

MillerCoors/MWA Event

Exciting internship development: last night I worked my first event as a "PR professional." (With that very sentence, I can feel my claim on my favorite booths at Champaign's dive bars slipping farther and farther away. Growing up...yikes).

Here is the back-story. MillerCoors donated 24 pieces of art from its Milwaukee offices to the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MWA). The MWA is displaying the pieces - all by Wisconsin artists - in an exhibit called "A Case of Wisconsin's Finest: New Acquisitions from the MillerCoors Collection." (Hopefully you get the cheesy, albeit still kind of clever, beer reference in that title). Yesterday afternoon, my supervisor and I drove up to the MWA in West Bend (outside of Milwaukee) for a VIP reception and media preview that was put on to introduce the exhibit.

We arrived early and got a one-on-one tour of the museum with Graeme, the Scottish Assistant Director (very enthusiastic about his job and the collection - but luckily for me, I find art interesting, especially when explained in a brogue). We spent the rest of the night mingling with the MillerCoors spokespeople, the MWA staff, the donors and several of the artists. There was wine, cheese and (predictably) MillerCoors beer. I particularly enjoyed my chats with Bettilou (the feisty, widow donor that clearly had her eye on the younger Graeme) and the caterer that thought I must be an artist based on how awesome my shoes were (this sounds creepy unless you know that my shoe collection really is that great and artistically-ish-inclined).

Also, I have had a lot of the responsibility for pitching this story to media (trying to get them to cover it). I've had a lot of success - I got the area AP writer to pick it up and the story got coverage in everything from FOX to ABC to the Chicago Tribune online to a lot of Milwaukee papers.

So. Mid-point internship reflection: it's been hard work, absolutely, and I will never, ever like getting up at any point before 9:00 in the morning, but I'm learning enough to fill a book (or the occasional blog post) and getting to experience some cool things.

In other news...I've started The Bell Jar as my latest train-ride read and absolutely love it. Female writer + woman's issues + healthy dose of cynicism = love. How did I graduate as an English major and never read this book? Must have been on the syllabuses of those 8am classes that I so-carefully avoided for four years.

Also, I am going to check something off of my bucket list this weekend. No, not going to see the Northern Lights or marry Alexander Skarsgard quite yet. However, I am going to see Lady Gaga at Lollapalooza on Friday after work! My friend and I made a last minute decision to splurge on the tickets. Now we just have to decide how devout of fans we really are. Do we dress up? We shall see. But since my company softball game got canceled for tomorrow night, there is suddenly a wide opening in my schedule for constructing cigarette glasses and coke can hair apparel.