Honor Society

Finished reading -- Last Summer #4 -- "Out of the Frying Pan"



No new news here, except that it's Valentine's Day! My wife got me a card that reminded me of Love and Rocket, one of our favorite Futurama episodes. It's a card with a picture of candy hearts on the front. Ruth wrote the quotes, "These candies are chalky and unpleasant!" and "You leave me breathless!", two of my favorite quotes.

I got her a much more standard card, with a plastic bowl (hand decorated) filled with Sugar Babies and Junior Mints. The above just goes to show you -- you don't need to buy diamonds for someone to show your love and appreciation.

(* * *)

The Fashion Club are doing a post-mortem on Daria's appearance in a ballgown. Daria interrupts to let Quinn know that she'll be at Jane's for dinner.

At the Pizza Prince, Daria shares news with Jane that she got a second rejection, meaning that she can now call herself a writer. The two meet a dejected Mack, who states that he had planned to have lunch with Jodie, but Jodie's father continues to overload Jodie with work. Daria and Jane decide to liberate Jodie from her drudgery.

When Daria returns, she finds that her latest Melody Powers story will be published in Literature in Action. The family decides to celebrate Daria's success. Daria, however, still has her mind on helping Mack.

Mack shows up the next day and Daria presents her plan. Daria will have a dinner party at the Morgendorffer's to celebrate Daria's success. Jodie will be invited and Mack and Jodie can spend time together there.

Unfortunately, the plan fails. Mr. Landon has Jodie in charge of catering a business dinner, and Jodie can't get out of the obligation. Daria has Helen call Mr. Landon, who hears that Daria has become a speechwriter (apparently, she wrote the speech for Helen to honor Carol Murphey). Mr. Landon concludes that it would be good for Jodie to "network" with a speechwriter and lets her attend the party.

After the dinner, a new plan is formulated. An honor society for past LHS graduates will be created. Jodie, Daria, Jane and Mack all have accomplishments that would qualify them to be inaugural members. The catch is that unbeknownst to all, no real work will be planned at any of the 'meetings' -- the society is just an excuse to give Jodie free time.

With the help of Carol Murphy, and recommendations from the Lawndale Faculty, the Lawndale High School Student Leaders Honor Society is formed.

The only drawback is that the society requires a formal inauguration in everyone's Sunday best to make it look convincing. Daria is given the presidency as the price to Murphey for setting the whole thing up. The inaugural members make the most of their time...by watching "Sick Sad World".

(* * *)

I enjoyed reading "Out of the Frying Pan". It wasn't as eyeopening as "Shifts in Mood", but it was a rather pleasant piece.

One of the problems of reading any work of fiction is 'hitches' -- can you suspend your disbelief enough and be drawn into the author's universe? Daria getting published by Literature in Action might be a hitch to some readers, but the low-key ceremony indicates that this is not the same as being published in "Esquire". It's much more realistic for Daria to have her work published in minor journals first.

Perhaps the only hitch of the story is why Daria would go so far out of her way for Jodie, an acquaintance at best, but even that hitch is negligable -- who wouldn't have sympathy for someone in Jodie's situation? Daria managed a realistic solution to a problem.

(This leads me to conclude that the reason Andrew Landon keeps Jodie so busy is that he doesn't want her to have free time. Why? Because he hates Mack Mackenzie, and doesn't want Jodie to have any spare time to hook up with him. It's a good excuse for him to keep her away from him. Now, all he has to do is solve the problem of Jodie resenting him for the rest of his life, and everything will work out perfectly.)