but in my arms she was always lolita.

"the only convincing love story of the 20th century." (vanity fair)

lolita by vladimir nabokov is one of my all time favorites reads. it is my favorite, in part, because of the memory i attach to it. in a day, i read it topless on a beach in barcelona. check out this village voice article written by a harvard english professor who not so incidentally teaches a seminar called vladmimir nabokov.

in passing, i considered switching from women, gender, and sexuality studies (wgs) to english. in my meeting i told my english advisor quite bluntly, "i will major in english if i can write the papers i want to write." i continued, "for example, i believe that humbert [lolita's narrator] is gay & secretly lusts for lolita because of her boyish qualities."

i paused.
he smiled.
then, silence.

i ended, "tell me the truth, can i write that paper?"

i'm still wgs.