In a Jewish cemetery waiting for it to get dark...

As I sit here in Stauffer-Flint… officially graduated yet still waiting for final sizes for the DUMB insider’s guide… I thought I would share a little about phone etiquette.

If ever a friend calls you and mentions that she is in a Jewish cemetery in the middle of nowhere waiting for it to get dark, DO NOT ask if it’s cool to call her back in fifteen minutes. Obviously, this is unacceptable. I mention it only because I found myself in the position of the caller last night.

And while it may not seem readily obvious as to why I was hanging out in a Eudora cemetery waiting for it to get dark, I hope it’s clear that a reassuring voice on the other end of my cell phone would have been greatly appreciated. But after scrolling through a countless number of people in my phone book I was forced to stick it out alone and try to shoot the pictures of tombstones I had gone out there to get. I did get some company though when a car pulled over near the intersection of the two gravel roads and shone a blindingly bright spotlight on me. Luckily the car attached to the spotlight belonged to a policeman and not some country good ol’ boy. After explaining that I was with the Lawrence-Journal World and not some teenager out to vandalize century-old graves, he left without hassling me too much.

Now though, I’m in the Kansan newsroom and I’m forced to keep waiting for those damn final sizes that probably aren’t ever coming. Every minute that the Insider’s Guide steals from me is one more that I will miss doing sake-bombs. Damn you Insider’s Guide….

Courtney