Useless Drama

I hate when this happens. I was in a perfectly foul mood, ready to start complaining about poor story-telling and the world in general. Ready to bitch and moan about every little thing I happened to find irritating until I started reading Useless Drama. I was pleased to be greeted by typos and what I thought would be a privileged girl predictably pestering me. I was taken outside of the story and pleased to have something easy to pick on. So I didn’t close the window. I’m lucky that I decided not to. But in another, much pettier, way I’m not because now I can’t be a troll like I had intended to be because it turns out this is a good story.
In this story by Miss Guidagno (from a certain slice of society disturbingly underrepresented in this blog, the first female author to be featured) the protagonist is haunted by memories of a formal dance a year ago and how lonely she felt when the slow dances began and the couples started coupling without her. Again she is faced with the issue of facing the dance all by her lonesome.
She wants desperately for her boyfriend to go with her, but that old dog worthiness starts nipping at her and she feels guilty wanting him to face the prospect of losing his job and, in turn, his only way of getting through college for a dance. Maybe I’m misinterpreting it but the line “If I worked half as hard as him, then I might be worthy of being selfish” irritates me. Working hard doesn’t entitle you to destroy your boyfriend’s life. Nothing entitles you to ruin anyone’s life. What this line is, however, is honest. I appreciate that.
It may sound strange to say it, because I can’t remember ever having a favourite paragraph, but my favourite one is the fifth. I love the paragraph that deals with her shower because it is so elegantly written. “My hair begins to drown me” is such an evocative way of describing everything she is feeling. So much is said with so little. “My hands move the same way they do every night” something which I can relate to, something that describes her headspace so clearly. Really, really good stuff.
I liked the end too. It was a little ambiguous and I didn’t feel as sure of it as I could have, but if it is indeed as I interpreted, it’s perfect. Maybe that’s the strength of it. It allows for perfect interpretation. Maybe.
What more can I say. It was good, very good. Guidango could have a real future ahead of her if she continues to write like this, ruining trolls’ bad moods.