Love Or Liberation

Chapter 3

On her first day of the Advanced French Conversation class, Elaine met Victoria. Victoria was petite. She had blond hair in a page boy that was chin length and tucked behind her ears. She looked very neat. She wore a dark gray, straight lined, knee length skirt and a white blouse, similar to Elaine's clothes. Elaine, as usual, wore a dark turtleneck sweater and matching knee length, straight lined skirt with opaque black stockings and ballet flats. Elaine had taken the seat behind Victoria.

"Are you looking forward to this class or dreading it?" Victoria asked Elaine.

"I'm looking forward to it. I was in an intensive language immersion program in Paris over the summer."

"I was in a similar program in Quebec! Do you want to continue our conversation in French?"

Elaine and Victoria talked about their travels. They both enjoyed using their French language skills. Elaine gathered that like herself, Victoria was a good student. Victoria was in her second year at Barnard. She was in the same dorm as Elaine, on a different floor. Victoria said this professor was demanding but was also a good teacher, with lively classes.

After class, they went together for lunch in the cafeteria.

Elaine talked about the existentialism of Sartre. She read Sartre outside of her studies. Victoria had read some of his plays, No Exit and The Flies, but not the essay "Existentialism is a Humanism," or the novel Nausea. Elaine said that according to Sartre, we are all free and making choices and to own our choices is to live authentically. Victoria asked where she could read the essay. Elaine said it was in a collection of his writings and wrote down the title of the book.

Then Victoria said, "Do you have any classes tomorrow?"

"No, not on Friday."

"There's a French bookstore in Rockefeller Center. Why don't we go there and then go out for lunch?"

"That sounds great. I love browsing through books, and I want to have a good novel on hand for any free time alone."

"Tomorrow night some Columbia College guys are giving a party at an off campus apartment they share. They would like to have Barnard students there. I don't think there will be any other French majors there, so we'll have to speak English, but they are nice guys. Do you want to come?"

"What kind of party will it be? Do they have wild parties with drugs?"

"Oh, no. They might have beer and wine, but these are clean cut guys who study hard. You'll probably be the only person there with long hair."

"Do you think I look like someone who would be into drugs?"

"Not at all. Your hair is clean and combed, not at all like the hippie scene. You dress differently, too."

"I read somewhere that the beatniks dress in black like this, or sometimes with black and white striped turtlenecks. I'm not interested in drugs, but I am interested in Beat writings and intellectual freedom."

Victoria asked, "Have you encountered anyone using drugs on campus?"

"No. I went with some other girls to open mike night at a bar, though, and there may have been some drugs there. I smelled a smoke that wasn't tobacco."

"Good. Because according to the Honor Code, if you come across anyone using illicit drugs on campus, it's your responsibility to report it."

Elaine said, "I won't use illicit drugs, but I'm not about to police other students. Besides, I've seen the Honor Code. It's about academic integrity and intellectual freedom. It's about learning for the sake of learning. That's what's important to me."

"Well, tell me if you see drugs, and I'll report it."

They both laughed.