"I Learn to Think" by Estragon (rgt@well.com). I nearly died laughing while I read this story. I have never been an adolescent boy, but this HAS to be how they think when they encounter the first intelligent and attractive female who has authority over them. The story is written in the format of a journal for a philosophy class - a class that discusses how people think. Sounds boring; but it's not. The author comes up with some bizarre insights that are so crazy that they simply MUST be true. The last line of the story says "end of part one"; but I almost hope there is no more - why ruin something that's almost perfect by adding to it? {That last sentence sounds like something I once wrote in my own philosophy journal.} Instead of making this story three times as long, I would really like to see this author tighten up the ending and leave it at approximately the same length. Then publish it in a philosophy magazine - like Playboy or Redbook or maybe Cosmopolitan.

One interesting thought that is NOT explored in the story is the fact that since the journal is written FOR Ms Altman, then she'll obviously have to read what the writer has written; and it's fun to speculate about what her reaction will be.

Incidentally, my favorite philosophical cartoon may be apropos here. It shows a philosophy professor writing on the chalk board, "I think, therefore I am." The student in the back row leans over and whispers to the scholar next to him, "Oh, no! We don't even exist!" Think about that one, Ms Altman!