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	This week's ReEntry guest editor is a doubtful diligent musician and writer who could use a little less windiness and a little more tact. Here he is: Mr. S Exist

When is a journal not a journal? In this guest column I've chosen entries that I believe, in one way or another, extend outside the traditional journal medium to become, somehow, something more. Each of these entries have, at one time, touched a nerve in this reader.

Months, Days, Milliseconds
June 8th, 1998

"I hate second good-byes -- they're always twice as cheesy and half has heartfelt as the first one."

I found it difficult to find a specific entry to highlight from Wendy's journal, for several reasons. One, her thoughts often ramble all over the place as she records the day's events, making a wholly self-contained entry nearly impossible to find. But then, isn't that how a journal should be? Two, her writing is so consistently good that there are great finds in almost every entry... it's easy to find a best entry in a journal that mostly sucks, but Wendy most indubitably does not suck. Three, if you comb her archives you'll find what a multifacted person she is, how her thoughts and perceptions range from the humorous to the serious, the mundane to the profound. How to find an entry to encapsulate all of that?

I finally buckled down and chose June 16th. It's a fairly typical Wendeee entry, but an above par one at that. Going through her day, she relates an amusing telephone call with her mother, her intruiging impressions of a Sinead O'Connor concert, and more, before her thoughts resolve at last into fascinating speculation about her years in Ireland, and how her life as changed since those years. Then, unexpectedly, she ends on a light note, putting the whole entry into perspective.

(You might also want to check out June 8th as a good contrast to that entry, just to show how varied and unpredictable Wendy's journal can be.)

teevee series
h

"there's something wrong with the teevee"

The so-called Paul Barrow, star of his own "teevee series," is an active participant in the Little Bastard webring, but surprisingly unheralded outside of those semi-clandestine walls, and relatively unknown to the journal community at large. Okay, so his is not the most obvious, the most accessible of online journals... that is, if it can really be considered a bona fide journal.

So, if it's not a journal, then, what is it? An attempt at art, a cruel joke, a mindless exercise, or what? And who is this Paul Barrow dude, anyway? A fool, a madman, a poseur, or something more?

I chose his entry "h" as a standout because I believe it eloquently and succinctly exemplifies the postmodern neodadaist universal mockery that sets Mr. Barrow apart as a true artist and not just another poseur. Yeah, you heard what I said. Just go there.

(Hint: Be sure to look at his title bars.)

A Better Tomorrow
In Case I Don't Make It

"This missive is to be read only in the circumstance that I don't survive, for whatever reason. I charge you, the reader, with carrying out the following tasks in my name. It is now your responsibility to see that the loose ends I've left behind are neatly tied up."

This entry is an interesting conundrum, to say the least. It's in the format of a will to be discovered after death. By utilizing a clever fiction, Christopher Simon gives us a gritty and vulnerable view of who and what he holds dear, in a very non-fiction kind of way. Too often can names lose their meaning in a journal setting, but here, as he bequeaths a unique message to each person in his life, he gives us a glimpse of the true nature of his relationship to these people. The sense of past, of history, of untouchable personal experience, is tangible here. There are some things a journal can never communicate, that's the implication here, and the realization of that tragedy of sorts makes for a moving entry.

The limitations of the journal format have been stretched by each one of these writers. Wendy's restlessness, Paul's evasive tactics, and Christopher's vague discontent all point towards the unspoken, giving us something to think about, something to feel. Let us hope that the journalers of the future can give us prose as bright...

Original "ReEntry" concept by Gus () and other DIARY-L participants.