Archives Past ReEntry Sites Apply What grabs you? Schedule Upcoming ReEntry Editors
	This week's ReEntry editor has happy dreams of running naked through the streets. Meet... Amy Dear World

I'm into honest, occasionally shocking journals that devote more to substance (text) than fancy graphics. I also like very simple, subtle journals that leave me with even one single lingering image. Here are some relatively obscure journals that do it for me.

Jan. 13, 1999
Loose Motion Yournal

"what the hell am i doing there in a suit and tie, dress shoes as the new 'system administrator.' i also cut my hair. what the hell am i doing here in nyc? hear me laugh! what the hell? people have been asking me that question variants of that question when they learn that i am not around from here. people have been kind to me, some not so nice... new york people i've noticed have pointy faces, pointier faces, more jagged faces i've noticed."

Wylee is a stranger to New York City. I like hearing the perspective of the lonesome stranger exploring a world I know well. He writes in subtle, simple poetry with the rare ability to say a lot with very little. Mundane facets of everyday life are thrown into a strange cast with his words.

He loves Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" and reads it aloud with his brother. You sense he shares that alienation of a world pre-carved where you have to go to the job and wear the costume. Also find his delicate sketches on exhibit.

actual winter
ephemeris

"this morning i stepped through a piece of white ice into the empty space underneath, that childhood smashing noise, hollow & familiar. it's been cold, like an actual winter,like home. yesterday we wore scarves and mittens; our noses turned pink between pizza and the subway station."

Ok, it's true, this one's not so obscure. But it's great and fulfills all the things I look for in a journal. One reason I like it is that it's not taxing. You don't feel like you're straining to take in what Siobhán is saying. It's all there spilling out like m-n-m's. And yet it's vivid and real.

You may walk away and not think much about it. But then you find yourself seized by some little thing she said like "the childhood smashing noise" of the ice. You realize that was Siobhán. And then the next chance you get -- you return to see how she's doing, what's she's thinking, where she is. It's that kind of journal that catches you unawares.

Feb. 18, 1999
Thomas's Journal Page

"I run outside and run to my school. It feels good to run. I love it. The wonderful moment when you just start to run and you're going fast and you're not tired yet so you feel powerful. Like you could run forever. I get to my school and climb on to the roof. I lie down on the cement and look up into the sky to see the few visible stars in downtown Macon.

"And I masturbate. MASTURBATE. I am embarassed to say that, and I feel stupid for being embarassed. I jerk off, spank the monkey, choke the chicken, right there on the roof. It's great, looking up into the stars. I just clear my mind... hey, this is pretty, not gross..."

Thomas is fun and disturbing with a dreamy, vulgar intensity I love. Read the rest of the entry and you'll see why. He's got that explosive bored teenager quality so wonderful to experience. He writes in a flood of pure uninhibited anger, yearning, twisted humor and horniness. (Oh and you must check out his photo from the beach towel/umbrella episode.)

Didn't you know teenagers are holy?

(Well. Holy shit, more likely. When I wrote this review, I missed an entry concerning one of Thomas's less charming contributions to society. Let it be known that I'm of the Anti-Defecation League, and I now urge you to skip this one altogether.)

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