they shoot the white girl first.

i was not in the market for a job, but i happened upon a posting for a literature research assistant. the project involves an in-depth analysis of toni morrison's beloved. beloved, though, is not my favorite morrison novel--the bluest eye is. paradise is the most provocative and is the home of my favorite morrison line--"they shoot the white girl first. with the rest they take their time."

i met with this visiting dubois fellow, a slender french woman named claudine, who smells of body order and perfume. she speaks in a french-english blend and often reaches for words when speaking to me. she needs assistance as she is unable to navigate harvard, google, or her old desktop.

in short, she hired me. we clicked. she told me of her two daughters named cecil and clementine, her birthplace in the south of france, and about the fast train in france.

i'm drawn to academic work & black lit. her work is something that i could see myself pursuing if i decide that scholarly text and research will be apart of my future. she's meets yearly with toni morrison at a conference in paris. claudine has informed me that morrison's sula will be apart of the national french secondary school curriculum.