Hi,

I'm writing this from our conference and I'm hating it. I feel strangely out of place when my colleagues (mostly guys) get together to talk. That's the main reason why I didn't hang out with them last night. They often talk about women as objects and many have this crazy "I am Man, hear me screw" attitude. Sex seems to be something you just do . . like take a piss or eat and I just can't deal with that kind of madness. Of course, all of the talk centers around hetero topics and that manly man sports talk stuff. I pretty much sit there with a "whatever" look on my face. There's only so much faking of interest a woman can muster. I think they have the attitude that because I'm a lesbian (yeah, people know) that I feel the same way. Not!! I'm sitting here stuck again on how often they talk about sex as a basic necessity. Sheesh. There are also two (a guy and this really cheap looking trader from St. Louis) who, according to the other guys, were practically having sex in the emergency exit in between the sessions. It all just bothers me. It's strange, because at some level I feel like I come from a totally different world from some of these people. The drinking games, the fraternity stuff, the sex talk, the absolute absence of a feminist or non-heterosexist frame of reference is really wild. Okay, how many different ways have I tried to say that now?

Thursday, I just needed to get away so I went to the Casino and won $3. Did I keep it? Of course not? I played $10, raised an additional $3 and then kept playing it until I wound up with only $5 to take home. Whatever.

Anne says Hi!

                                                    XOXOX Always, Trudi