Maggie's Journal Page

Another Wednesday. Another day of Summer. Another day in my hometown of Amsterdam, New York. Last night, I did nothing--because I could. My junior year of college had been completed two weeks prior and I still had a week to go before I would be back to work--this time in Cagli, Italy. My mind blanked, my body relaxed; my face was illuminated by the flashing colors of the TV. Planet of the Apes--the old one. I remember comparing this movie to Gulliver's Yahoos last semester at Loyola. I wonder now if I sounded stupid. No, I decide. Dr. Scheye was pretty excited. Enveloped in the comfort of my couch, I try to refrain from dozing. I'm exhausted but I force my eyes open as my consciousness drifts in and out. Unfortunately I fail. Unable to stay awake, I succumb to the loud silence.



A view of Cagli from Il Torrione		Another Wednesday. Another day of Summer. Another day in my hometown of Amsterdam, New York. Last night, I did nothing--because I could. My junior year of college had been completed two weeks prior and I still had a week to go before I would be back to work--this time in Cagli, Italy. My mind blanked, my body relaxed; my face was illuminated by the flashing colors of the TV. Planet of the Apes--the old one. I remember comparing this movie to Gulliver's Yahoos last semester at Loyola. I wonder now if I sounded stupid. No, I decide. Dr. Scheye was pretty excited. Enveloped in the comfort of my couch, I try to refrain from dozing. I'm exhausted but I force my eyes open as my consciousness drifts in and out. Unfortunately I fail. Unable to stay awake, I succumb to the loud silence.

		Another Wednesday. Another day of classes. Another day in Cagli. Last night, struggling to get back into 'school-mode,' I paged through my mental thesaurus to find another way to describe the city other than 'small.' Tiny? Minute? Petite? Less than satisfied, I settle on "compact." Twenty minutes later, while reading a travel essay for my storytelling class, I cringed. The author described her small Italian town as "Lilliputian." DAMN. I should have thought of that. Last semester's dose of Gulliver's Travels so swiftly forgotten! A slowly fading memory. Dr. Scheye, I apologize.
	Many of the homes on the outskirts of Cagli look much like this one		And so I start wracking my brain-- dredging up semester after semester of romances, sonnets, epics, and transcendentalist theories trying desperately to find my literary wonderword--a word that will put my education to the test. I'm used to reading literature, not writing it; and inside this microcosmic medieval town, it seems that I've forgotten to pack my adjectives. My efforts go unrewarded as I can't help but be distracted by the deafening noise pouring through my open shuttered window from the piazza. I am unable to concentrate. Italy has just won a big soccer championship and my Cagliese Lilliputians are in a Brobdingnagian-sized uproar. Back To Top