Valley Life

Dear friends,

I have been in Davis for the past few weeks workin’ hard for the money. I work at Ink Money Wearable Graphics as the production assistant. I wash squeegees, tape screens, mix ink and just do whatever the printers tell me to do. I rise a 5 am to get to work at 6 am and work until 2 pm Monday through Friday. I always smell like artificial orange cleanser and I am always covered in ink. It is the good life.

Davis is pleasant this time of year. It has been 75 degrees with a light breeze and the cherry trees are ripe (and it never rains in the summer). Davis is located in the California Central Valley (think Steinbeck and Cesar Chavez) and has amazing local fruit and vegetables. The neighborhood that I live in was designed with built in orchards and fruit plants that ripen at all times of the year. If you are interested in sustainable development, this is a very good place to start. Although the weather is pleasant now, it will not last, as the temperature will quickly climb into the 80s and 90s.

I have been listening to Fairport Convention non-stop. If you like 60’s folk rock I suggest you check them out. I highly recommend their self-titled album. I have also been listening to the music of Philip Glass. If you are going on some epic adventure and need a sound track, this is it. I have been attempting to do some reading about the Beat Generation and Beat Galleries in San Francisco, but have not made much progress. A gallery owner in Davis gave me a book about them when I asked him if I could work at the gallery. He told me that I could possibly be an intern, but I would have to read the book and come back. I do not have time to be an intern, but I have been enjoying the book. It has made me want to open an underground art gallery for amateurs, someday perhaps.

Yours,
Claire