Douglas:

"When a woman cuts her hair off, it means something has changed in her psyche."

Later I met with Angela, who had recently cut off her long hair. She saw mine and said quickly that she already wishes her hair was long again. And when she said that, I felt suddenly at home. I’m glad the burden, annoyance, and boredom are gone. This is how I see myself, and I am this way.

We went out that night to Agua Verde and the Hugo House, where a film, an art installation, by Theresa Hak-Young-Cha was playing. The piece was one hour of words and images fading in and out on a video monitor that was set into the middle of a screen onto which scenes of shadows and wind blowing through curtains were projected from an old clacking film projector in the back of the room.

I’ve read Dictee and a little about the artist’s motives, so I was able to sit attentively through the whole thing. I’m glad Pam and Angela managed to stick it out. Afterward, they were wide-eyed and slow moving, yawning "OOOOKAY! That was interesting. It’s a good thing we got that coffee." The woman running the projector told us beforehand that it was OK if we left in the middle.

By 9:30 we had eaten, imbibed both liquor and coffee, and seen a movie. We couldn’t decide what else to do, but Pam said she wanted a soda. So we went to the Sit-n-Spin and drank Cokes until one of us had the bright idea to return to my house and watch High Fidelity. So we did.