On an oppositely, bluesy (sorry for all the blues) note, I missed BEA. I practically passed out on the F train on the way to the Javits Center on Wednesday morning, and had to hail a cab to take me home ASAP. I had been looking forward to BEA since my interview for this internship position, and it all came to a skidding and screeching F train halt. My coworkers at Beaufort collected a whole bunch of books, and offered to share them. While this was quite generous, and definitely made me feel better, I’m still totally bummed about missing the publishing event of the season. Not cool.

My parents glued me to the couch so that I would feel well enough to attend my graduation the following morning. Luckily, I was feeling much better and headed out to Brooklyn College, my parents and brother in tow. The experience surpassed all expectations (if you’ve read my previous blogs, I had little hope for an exciting commencement). 2,250 graduates decked in maroon caps and gowns filed out of the encircling buildings and onto the quad. Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, gave a hilarious and boisterous speech, reigniting my love for my borough and its college. There were also 100 graduates from the Brooklyn College class of 1960 who joined us, which had my mother bawling in tears. Actually, my brother noted that from the moment the ceremony started until it ended, my mother was crying. This came as no surprise to me because my mother is famously known for crying from the Price is Right (“Look how happy they are!”). Speaking of tears, Don Lemon of CNN ended up being such a cutie. He too, could not help from break out in emotional sobs during his speech, in which he spoke about the course of his life and how he didn’t get a chance to go to his own graduation. A truly sincere and uplifting speaker who said he started from nothing and worked his way up to success. Screw Sapphire! (But really don’t, because she’s awesome).

My Memorial Weekend was pretty memorable, slipping back into the comforts of summer days and nights. My freckles are now adundant. The 10 or so children who stayed over did not remove themselves from the swimming pool. And the policemen who wait on my street corner waiting for people to go down my one way street the wrong way seem to have gotten a new set of wheels straight out of Pimp My Ride. Ah, summer.

Book news: I’m in the middle of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for about 4 million weeks. Having already read Blink, Freakonomics and taken a handful of Psychology classes, a lot of what I’m reading is a sort of review, but still fascinating nonetheless. As with Blink, the tone is enjoyable but I am not completely convinced.

I was however convinced to get a Twitter account.

Oh! My grandma told me last night that it’s possible to get artifical dimples. How strange/rude? As a bearer of two (or more) sunken spots in my cheek, I felt a little cheated. Ooft.

Till next week,

Rachel Lily

Wouldn’t exactly wanna be me either…I have a terrible cold and cough and it’s the beginning of May. Do I automatically assume allergies (of which I never had)? Or do I blame the F-train/my nephew who was sneezing on me/not wearing socks to sleep? You know it’s bad when you need NyQuil. Oh, NyQuil, your drug is my love (I <3 Kesha).

I’ve been holding out on my connections list. I saw Miranda from Sex and the City a few weeks ago and I didn’t even tell you. She was in the city. Predictable…I’m also pretty sure I was just with someone famous in the elevator. Rocker dude type. He was talking to other people in the elevator about writing a song for some album, and he’s going to playing with Sheila E. next week, who apparently once played with Prince. It is officially my goal for the remainder of my time at Beaufort to figure out who this guy is.

Speaking of my time at Beaufort, I have great news. I will be here for an extra month! Your favorite blogger just extended until mid-June. A big deal.

THIS JUST IN: I asked Margot who the guy is and she doesn’t know, BUT, lo and behold, there is a famous acupuncturist on my floor who apparently has A-list clientele. Margot said she’s seen an Olsen twin, and Elizabeth Berkely (Jesse from Saved by the Bell) in the elevator, and Charlie, another co-worked spoke to Sting for like a block! I will be lingering in the hallway from now on. This is bigger news than the Google Editions (times like, a thousand??).

I’ll be sure to remember you all when I become famous.

Or maybe only those who comment.

Yes, that’s a blogging threat.

Comment!

Please comment?

I’ll mention you in my blog if you comment.

I’m outty,

Rachel Lily

Turns out this woman read the article, read many of Patterson’s books, read lots of his competitor’s books, was actually on his mailing list, and could talk talk talk for hours (she needed a friend). She was fairly knowledgeable in all things crime-thriller, and she basically said Patterson lost his brilliance when he started churning out 10 books a year. Still, we came to the conclusion that he’s a genius, a millionaire, and he deserves major credit. He is a household brand name, like Marc Jacobs on your bookshelf. He’s had a take in just about every genre and target market and I haven’t read even one book! I did of course see Along Came a Spider, which I discussed with my F Train friend. She said Morgan Freeman wasn’t hot enough to be Alex Cross. Whatev. If anybody has a recommendation feel free to comment (feel free to comment anyway). Oh, and she was reading The Commoner by John Burnam Schwartz, which she said is like Memoirs of a Geisha.

On another note, I called 911 this Valezident’s weekend. I was staying by a friend’s summer house in Jersey with a couple of girls when we heard an unexpected and disturbingly loud bang on the door, the equivalent of “ready or not, here I come.” It was 10:30 PM on Friday night, meaning it was the Sabbath, late, and a 95% chance we could die. We ran to the kitchen, one girl hiding under a blanket in the corner, one looking for a butcher knife, one running around with a blanket on her shoulders like Superwoman in pajamas and yet another yelling out that the door was opening! Before the 911 operator could pick up, we discovered it was only our newly married-friend whose post-wedding occasion was the reason we were in Jersey in the first place. The police came and I apologized for jumping to conclusions (but I wasn’t). Later, my parents told me they were very proud of my instincts (bow, bow). In hindsight, hilarious. In then sight, terrifying. Moral of the story? Never go to Jersey in the winter. That’s my fiasco of the week!

Till next time,

Rachel Lily Benun

On another note, over the weekend I had decided to spice up my blog by embarking on what could be called a “train adventure,” because yes, it is required that you actually SPEAK. What I was thinking is I would talk to some strangers about what books they’re reading. This could possibly be fun, might get me in trouble for breaking subway silence, and definitely will be interesting to find out what New York is up to with their lit. As I stood waiting in the freezing cold for a delayed train, who is to walk up the subway steps but my brother Morris, happily surprised to see his little sis. And out the window went my first train adventure. In my post-traumatic psychological state, I thought he asked, “They won?”, when in reality he was saying, “Day one?” referring of course to my newly acquired internship. Clearly, I am feeling a bit insecure. After bugging him for not watching the super bowl (in some religions, this can be considered sinful), we finally got on the train and ended up watching a movie on his iPhone, careful not to laugh too loud so as to excite our fellow passengers.

Speaking of the iPhone, you might be interested to know that my family and I have deemed the iPad temporarily irrelevant. As someone with far too many family members completely obsessed with all things technology, this is more important than one might think. I come from the breed of those who stand on mile-long lines to get their hands on the first-ever iPhone. Okay, we made someone else do it, but it is of the same principle. Anyway, it seems that because we embarked on the iPhone pre-problem fixes, the Benuns have decided to lay off the iPad for a little while. As for me, I’m waiting for the iPhone, Blackberry and digital camera to smash into one awesome mega-device. In the meantime, the iPad is hoping to revolutionize the publishing industry (that’s us), making textbooks and (oh no!) paper books, a thing of the past. Goodbye sweet Kindle, hello Steve Jobs. Seeing as how the man has the Midas touch, I have no doubt the device will make a nice impact on the book business. We shall see soon enough!

Until next time,

Rachel Benun

P.S. The other intern’s name is Calvin Manning. Hmm…