Hi and Bye-a lurker's 15 seconds

[Brian Weinrick]

Hello all and love. I'm Brian Weinrick and I'm a P-list lurker(never before
posted) of about a year.  I first encountered Pynchon in an off-topic post
to an unrelated newsgroup and knowing little about him picked up COL49 the
next day.  Next I bought Vineland, and finally last summer had the time and
ambition to tackle GR.  About the same time I discovered P-list while on
the Pomona page.  I've enjoyed and learned much from the posts of
Pynchophiles around the globe (especially the ones from the UK, Sud Afrika,
Nuevo York, California, DC, and the Midwest).  I finished V. just before
M&D came out and I'm now enjoying our newest treasure.
        I'm eager to begin the first of my rereadings, it's just going to
keep getting better as the worlds of those books get richer and richer with
each time through.  I wanted to write and thank everyone (while not
everyone-newbies who write before they get a clue and flame warriors who
forget why they began to flame excepted) for what has been my main use for
the internet -reading p-list.
        I'm doing this now because I'm going offline.  On Monday I'm
leaving for Eritrea(a country on the Red Sea which gained its independence
in 1991 after a 30 year war with Ethiopia.  I'll be there two years as a
Peace Corp volunteer teaching science to 6th and 7th graders.  I graduated
last year from the University of Michigan with a Biochemistry degree (got
my M&D from Shaman Drum in A^2).  Anyone who wants to meet for a pint or
two I'll be in DC Monday night, and in London all day on Wednesday the 9th
on route to Asmara.  Even though I'll be offline if anyone wants to
correspond by snail mail about P-list stuff- hardcopies of threads,
whatever please write to one of the addresses below and I'll return you my
honest, if not interesting reply, along with any local info which could be
P-list relevant- Eritrea was an Italian colony from 1899 to 1941 when the
British took it until 1961 when Haile Sellasie absorbed it until he was
deposed by the Marxists under Mengistu Haile Mariam who continued to battle
the counterforce until he was deposed in 1991 and independence was
achieved(likely due to the loss of Soviet aid).  Also relevant, to Lineland
at least, was something I uncovered in my research, The article "Birth of a
Nation in cyberspace" by John C. Rude appearing in the March/April 1996
issue of The Humanist.  This article discusses the newsgroup which links
Eritreans around the world and the group's discussion of issues of freedom,
equal rights, and how to guarantee these things in the Constitution which
is now being written.  Apoligies for this long and possibly off-topic post,
If anyone wants to reply I should have net access for another couple days
and of course would love any snail mail you can send to a soon to be
lonely? Midwesterner experiencing p-list withdrawl.

                        Thanks all, love Brian

Brian Weinrick/PCT              Brian Weinrick
Peace Corps                     121 Poplar Tr.
P.O. Box 5700                   Marquette, Mi 49855
Asmara, Eritrea                 USA