4th Entry

A very troubling thing happened today in Dr. Dillamond's class. It started out as usual: everyone was sitting in class, and once again my roommate became upset that he had mispronounced her precious name, calling her Glinda, not Galinda.

"I really don't see what the problem is. Every other professor seems to be able to pronounce my name," she said impatiently.

"Maybe pronouncing your precious name isn't the sole purpose of Doctor Dillamond's life. Maybe he's not like every other professor. Maybe some of us are different." That was me, of course. I was peeved at her for paying so much attention to something so petty. Galinda or Glinda, she is still just the same. Selfish.

"Oh! It seems the artichoke is steamed," she retorted.

I felt the all too familiar sensation of anger boiling up inside of me, but Doctor Dillamond called us back to attention. He launched straight into a lesson on the Great Drought, and how the Animals became scapegoats, as it were (Dillamond, of course, being a Goat).

My roommate obviously found it very dry, because she raised her hand once more and again said something very petty. "I don't see why you can't just teach us history instead of always harping on the past."

Doctor Dillamond responded with, "Well, perhaps these questions will enlighten you..." and flipped over the backboard. Instead of the questions we all expected, it said, "ANIMALS SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD."

Dillamond, obviously shaken by the message, dismissed the class early. I told Nessa to go on ahead and stayed behind to comfort him. I was used to name calling and such, and knew that only cowards would do such a thing. Words on a blackboard would harm no one, though it would set tempers running high.

Doctor Dillamond seemed to believe otherwise. He told me that there was trouble brewing in Oz, and that, slowly but surely, Animals were losing their ability to speak. At first it seemed incredulous. A world with just animals and no Animals? Certainly it's impossible. But midway through our talk, just as he was saying how something bad was happening in Oz, something in his voice changed and he said, instead of "something bad," "something BA-A-A-A-A-A-A-D" came out, like a goat's bleating instead of a Goat's voice. And, incredulous though it may seem, for a moment it seemed like something bad might be happening in Oz. But, no, it couldn't happen here, in Oz…

After that disconcerting episode, I couldn't keep my focus at all during my sorcery lesson, and M.M. sent me away, telling me to get some rest. I arrived back in my room in time to overhear Galinda & co. talking about some new guy at Shiz who apparently has a scandalacious reputation. Oh, yes, it seems that my roommate has developed a crush on this…Fiyero, I think, a Winkie prince. They went on and on about the party later tonight, what they should wear, etc.

This just got me thinking. The three of them saw what happened in Dillamond's class and they don't even care? How? They who have the power to make a difference in the world, namely the money, the status, they who people will listen to, they don't care, and I bet this new "student," this Fiyero, is no different. If there even is an Unnamed God out there, why couldn't he/she/it give uspeople who care about the world, or at least about something other than themselves, instead of these silly spoiled brats we have? People who know that life isn't one big party, that there is something more important than fancy gowns and hairdos/don'ts and fashion, those are thepeople we need. What would our world, our Oz, be like if people cared?

I'm feeling a little worn out; I think I'll go lie down. Perhaps I'll visit Nessa later, just to take my mind off of all of this. I'm not even going to think about going to the party.

Elphaba