Sabah elkheer, TASPers...

Dearest comrades, far-flung friends,
I hope you are all well and that those of you who applied to CBTA are not angsting too much. Don't worry: you shall be interviewed, I am sure of it. All continues well in State College. Arabic is much fun: I learned to say darling the other day. Oddly enough, the first letter sounds exactly like the h sound in Ruben's "dahling," as opposed to the h in "he"... (One says "habeebee" to a male and "habeebetee" to a female.) I am also learning how to say door, chicken, house, neighbor, borders, and news. My ability to understand the Arabic pop songs my teacher plays before class is therefore rather limited.
Ottoman history is also fun, full of march warriors, two-blooded border lords, ghazi, mystics, and whatnot. I actually said something in class on Wednesday (about a particularly tasty footnote), but the shock was so great I could barely write for shaking for a full five minutes. I miss TASP discussions: the people here scare me. They don't read the footnotes yet they still speak so confidently in class... Professor Krstic hates me, I'm sure. I raise the eyebrow. There has been plenty of talk about the Balkans, though, Lynn...
In other news, I am training my minions to call rabbits ("erneb") "Walter Mondales."
People have been leaving for college. This makes me very sad. The chap who sent me the Che Guevara postcard departed in the wee hours of this morning for the University of Chicago. Tyler, if you have any pale green coats, lock them up. (This chap has been known to pinch my own green raincoat. I register Manasi-esque indignance because he looks far better in it than I do.) I'm sure you know people who are departing as well... At least it's not as bad as the end of TASP...
Anyway, let us put such best-repressed memories behind us. I was most intrigued by the suggestions for the next TEL. As far as Erasmus Darwin goes, I can only proclaim, in best Ryan voice: "Oh my gawd!" Scientific notes in verse: that is simply delightful. If weren't a wee bit too old, I'd be in love. Speaking of verse, Rudyard Kipling sounds interesting, and T. S. Eliot would be good choice, just so long as people don't gain the mistaken impression that he's > TEL. In that regard I like Miranda's view of this new person as a friend, not a rival, for dear TEL... J. R. R. Tolkein definitely has much to recommend him (hobbits are my friends), as does H. L. Mencken. (Mencken reminds me of my favorite staunch opponent of the French Revolution and the "great unwashed masses" in general, Edmund Burke, only ten times more acidic. By the way, Spencer, Edmund wouldn't be any sort of relation, would he?) As for Subcommandante Marcos... The rules could definitely be extended to encompass anyone who calls his rooster "Penguin." However, I must know to which school of guerilla warfare he subscribes. If he adheres to Guevara's foco theories, he's doomed to destruction. If he follows the strategies set out in chapter XXXIII of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, on the other hand, he's guaranteed victory. You must tell him this when you meet him while you're next fomenting revolution in more southerly climes, Max. So many good choices... How to choose? I shall just have to research them all...
But the great news in State College is: T. E. Lawrence lives! He sent me an e-mail. I am well pleased. I hope you are all having a similarly exciting weekend.
Toodle pip,
Alison