Pynchon Paranoiacs Unite!

[Diana York Blaine]

Just after I read CoL49 my first year in graduate school I noticed that
there were tiny pencil markings above every doorbell in my three-story
student apartment building in Westwood--including tiny post-horns, among
other things--and I seriously began to wonder what the hell was going on.
Shortly after that a group of young men burst into our apartment
uninvited and proceeded to eat our food, smoke our pot, and entertain us
with frantic banter. Like the Whole Sick Crew only in a handsome clean-cut
UCLA frat boy kind of way. My roommates and I kept asking each other
"who are these guys?" and  "what are they doing here?" Later I wondered if
the markings signified who was inside, like the messages that bums would
post outside of homes during the Depression alerting fellow travelers to
the fact that victuals could be had there. Maybe ours meant "chicks, pot
and cookies." While I never found out what the deal was (nor does Oedipa I
guess), needless to say I was fascinated, charmed, and hooked on Pynchon.
-Diana