The Girl Who Knew Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Heart
<p><em>Thanks to </em></p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/u/9390af768c3f?source=post_page-----8fd247558a25--------------------------------" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Walter Bowne</em></a></p>
<p><em> for his satirical piece </em><a href="https://medium.com/open-letters-to/open-letter-to-readers-of-ayn-rand-728ad0c237b8" rel="noopener"><em>Open Letter to Readers of Ayn Rand</em></a><em> which brought back this memory.</em></p>
<p>When I was in college I knew a woman who could recite the entire of Jonathan Livingston Seagull from memory.</p>
<p>She was studying music and I was studying journalism. We were at a party thrown by someone in her department. Unsurprisingly, the music students threw better parties than the journalism students.</p>
<p>Her name was <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1lUFl3FSiWBSVvnfgM8K7I?si=SAoqnHc4T56IWkc5FZPjVg" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Dale Ladouceur</a>. She is still a professional musician so I hope she won’t mind a bit of extra publicity. She plays the <em>Stick</em> in a number of bands. It’s an instrument sort of like a bass. Look her up on your favorite streaming service.</p>
<p>Three of us had retreated to someone’s bedroom and there was a copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull on the bookshelf. “Dale knows that book by heart,” said my other friend. I can’t remember his name.</p>
<p>“That true?” I asked.</p>
<p>Dale nodded. “Some things I read just stick with me.”</p>
<p>I picked up the book. “Okay,” I said. “What’s the first line.”</p>
<p>She stared briefly up at the ceiling and recited, “<em>It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea.</em>”</p>
<p>“Wow! That’s amazing! What comes next?”</p>
<p>Without missing a beat, she continued, “<em>A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food.</em>” She stopped and took a sip of her drink. “I can do the whole thing if you want.”</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/illumination/the-girl-who-knew-jonathan-livingston-seagull-by-heart-8fd247558a25"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>