Day 11 in the Box

Not much to report today. I was made well aware of the disconnect from the outside world yet again. When I went in to the gallery, it was sunny but windy. When I left, it was pouring down rain. I was very surprised when Chuck arrived to pick me up, umbrella in tow. I slept horribly last night. My back and neck were so sore from yesterday I just couldn't get comfortable. Oddly enough, I don't feel near so bad off today - maybe my body just needed to remember better how to handle the situation, especially since yesterday was a long day at six hours and when I first began the performance with the reception I was only there for two.

While in the box, I read Alice Walker's Horses Make a Landscape More Beautiful, a wonderful collection of poetry dealing with humanitarian, introspective and environmentalist themes that was first published in 1971 and still rings quite true today. I also began reading Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters by Courtney E. Martin but I must admit that I think Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Dr. Mary Pipher was a much stronger book and I would personally recommend that one over this. It's been awhile since I read Pipher's accounts, though, and the performance may be affecting my opinion of Martin's book which has also offered some interesting insights and perspectives from varied sources that reinforce the struggles faced by so many young women coming into adulthood.