even get a boyfriend. If I could find a guy who doesn’t want to make out much, or…
Fuck, who do I think I’m kidding?
I can’t write any more. I’m about to lose it. I’ll go hide this diary along with all the other evidence of all my sins, put on Horses, and do whatever it takes not to have to think about any of this anymore.
Tammy
Wednesday, September 14, 1977
Dear Sharon,
Sorry it took me longer than usual to write back. I’ve been really busy since school started.
I’m behind on answering questions for the report, so here’s the next one:
What is your favorite subject in school, and why?
Art, I guess. It was always my favorite when I was younger. The art teacher I had in junior high was great. He’s the one who taught me how to do shading and perspective. Which is good, since my current art teacher is also the girls’ gym teacher and wouldn’t know perspective if it was a tennis ball flying at her face.
Sorry. I guess that answer got kind of dark.
Have you listened to the new Iggy Pop album yet? I got it yesterday. It has a couple of good songs, but I’m not sure about the rest. The guy at the record store said it isn’t selling because no one’s been buying anything but Elvis records for the past month. Is it bad that I never cared about Elvis, even when he was alive?
Now I feel guilty for writing that. My mom cried for a week after he died. I don’t know what I’d do if Patti Smith died.
Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. I’d better go.
Yours truly, Tammy
Saturday, September 17, 1977
Dear Tammy,
I know what you mean. I’ve been busy since school started, too. There’s a big election coming up here in November and my brother’s volunteering in another district, and I’ve started helping with a campaign in our neighborhood, too. There’s a guy running who my brother really doesn’t want to win, so I’ve been putting up signs for one of the other candidates. I don’t know much about her except that she’s a real-estate agent and she’s not Dan White.
I haven’t heard much Iggy Pop. He’s friends with David Bowie, right? My brother doesn’t listen to punk, but he loves David Bowie.
The last time I was at the record store I bought a bunch of singles. Some of them aren’t great, but a few are cool. Nothing on Patti Smith’s level, but two are by other bands with girl lead singers. One’s called the Avengers—have you heard of them? They’re from San Francisco.
My favorite single was by this British band called X-Ray Spex. It’s this strange song about how everyone looks down on girls, but it’s also about…bondage? I don’t know exactly what bondage is, but the song is called “Oh Bondage Up Yours!” and you should definitely get it. As far as I can tell it’s about society, and how we’re all supposed to act a certain way and how society can’t own us if we all break free. I want to know what you think of it.
Can I tell you one of my favorite things about punk? It’s that all the songs are about being angry. I used to think songs had to be about love, until I found punk. There are way too many love songs already, what with pop and disco and Elvis. Most of the time I don’t understand what people are even talking about when they talk about love, let alone when they’re singing about it.
Oh, and my favorite subject is English. I want to be an English teacher, but not at a Catholic school. All we read here is Chaucer and Shakespeare and Blake. The teachers probably think if they let us read anything close to this century we’ll turn into hippies. At the public school they at least get to read Mark Twain.
Since you can’t say most of that in your report, please just say I love to read.