Social butterflies

Dear Den,

I’m so sorry to hear of your troubles en Allemagne and please let me know if I can do anything to lift your spirits. Commiserate with your pain, I can do. When I was in the 7th grade, I too, was socially ostracized and my mother was forced to sing my sobbing-self to sleep every night for a year. J'exagere pas. Fortunately, I became homecoming queen a few years later – the peak of my popularity thus far – and now, I suppose I fall somewhere just below average in terms of the social spectrum. Some might say I “peaked” in high school and I’d morosely agree. Anyway, chin up, you…If you follow my trajectory, in a few years you just might be riding around in a horse drawn carriage surrounded by scores of praising minions at the Yale-Harvard homecoming match. Game. Whatever the football one is.

Speaking of social behavior, this summer has been an interesting experiment in mixing social circles. I’ve been introduced to Megan’s Wesleyan crowd and she’s taken a dip into the Trinity pool. Just last week, she willingly made the rounds at the ultimate Trinity bar, which shall remain unnamed but rhymes with Bart and Eddies. She was a real hit (preppy dudes are totally bewildered my Mimi and her “alternative” style - who IS this girl with SHORT and BROWN hair they wonder).

A few days later, Megs mentioned that her friends were making a music video down the block from our apartment and needed a few extra girls to participate. Well, I thought, I love attention and I love dance parties, so why the heck not. Call time was 7am, Denny, and I showed up to location – a public park - bright eyed and bushy tailed. Whistling to myself, I entered into a tent full of naked girls who were in the process of being smothered with bright pink body paint. My whistling ceased and I tried my best to backtrack slooooowly out of the tent without anyone noticing but was immediately caught by Megan’s friend, who was a body painter for the day. “Julia! I can’t believe you came! Thank you,” she exclaimed.

“Wow, I can’t believe I came either…So, this is what’s happening?” I inquired, hoping that perhaps my role in the video was of a different, more clothed and less ho-ish nature, then the flock of girls around me. No such luck. I proceeded to strip buck naked, allow two girls to slop pink paint all over my body (yes, I mean all over), put on a fur bikini and feathered head piece and carry around a cage of hipster boys singing electro-pop for 6 hours. I left feeling very sunburned and itchy (body paint is so scratchy, Denny!) but with a slight feeling of accomplishment that I had left my comfort zone and perhaps became popular among a new group. Well, truth be told, none of the girls really liked me, but hey, c’est la vie, mon cherie.

What doesn’t kill you…

TUTU