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12B - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 16, 2004

no fact zoneshort fiction
COYOTE WOMAN BY BERNIE NGUYEN

UNDERGRADS
Continued from page U


I write, she told me, on thin runners
of foolscap that bleed paper cuts at the
edges. Her fingers were stained with
ink and the brilliance of the raspberries
she crushed before placing them in her
mouth.
Marcela Sanchez wrote about Mexico
- adobe huts and red dirt, corn tortillas
and fantastic sunlight that dripped from
the sky. She had been born in Seattle,
the daughter of an accountant and a
homemaker. Her younger brother, Edu-
ardo, grew up to be aflamenco guitarist
and married a Japanese secretary who
expressed her wild side with red silk lin-
gerie. Suko Miyazuko - well, Suko San-
chez - was an excellent salsa dancer
who gave birth to triplets. They were
iamed Maria, Yuki, and Teresa.
I eat ketchup packets on stale toast,
she said, with the capers of moonlight
streaming before me, leading to the next
block and the end of the world. Have
you ever felt Spanish tile on your bare
ass? Of course not, but I have, when the
sheets are too warm and I sleep naked
on the balcony.
She lived in the remains of the Sierra
Hotel, once beautiful but now grimy, like
an ancient whore too tired to turn tricks
anymore. It was an eye-opening experi-
ence, Marcela informed me. Imagine liv-
ing like the squatters in Nogales, selling
gum and beaded necklaces and dream-
ing of a house in the arms of a giant cac-
tus. I live like a coyote, she said.
During the interview she puffed weed
*he'd bought off the street and rolled in
discarded lotto tickets. Her brown eyes
were glazed, but direct, and I would have
bet my last dime that she knew exactly
everything she was saying.
I live like a coyote, she said, and licked
her fingers. Aren't you jealous?
That night 1 slept and dreamt of
saguaro women, running along the mesa
with tortilla aprons and bright red clay

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SHUBRA OHRI/Daily
Tim Hannon, an engineering junior, releases with rugby in his spare time.

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buttons, big blooms of palo verde hair
burned against the backdrop of a setting
sun. The air hot, the ground beginning
to cool. The chunks of barrel cactus and
adobe stepping-stones across an ocean
of sand.
Somewhere, beneath a slippery cur-
tain of distant rain, a coyote howled and
I woke up, my face pressed into the beige
sheets and one arm flung to the side,fin-
gers outstretched as if to touch that line
of purple that ran over the desert as the
moon rose and the stars began to shine.
Coyote woman. Coyote life. I lay and
stared at the ceiling, wondered how she
felt when she woke nude, baptized by the

dew on the red tiles.
Coyote woman.
When the interview was published she
sent me a tiny cactus baby in a clay pot,
gravel around its base like a swarm of
fire ants. I put it on the windowsill and
watched it at sunset, seeing the silhouette
against the sky and somehow, somehow,
hearing coyote music beneath the hum
of city traffic. Coyote woman singing,
coyote woman dancing, coyote woman
feet streaked with blood and fingers
filled with prickly pear, coyote woman
teeth and eyes and lashes trembling with
dew and coyote tail and scorpion sting.
Yes, Marcela. I'm jealous.

electrical engineering. "I just try to
set times where I go to the library.
I try to do it in big blocks of time,"
Hannon casually explained.
Like many University juniors,
Hannon recently completed a sum-
mer internship. Working at Karmenn
U.S.A., an automotive supplier, he
.said he feels more experienced in
his career path. "I know where I'm
going better than I did, I have a
clearer picture. Once I got the intern-
ship, I think that kind of helps," he
said. Hailing from nearby Plymouth,
Hannon confessed that although he
lives close to home, he has never felt
a lack of independence while at the
University. Adding that his mother
works in Ann Arbor, he explained
that his parents are "there for sup-
port, but it's not overwhelming."
Hannon hopes the coming year will
help him gain domestic experience
in preparation for life after college.
"I'm getting ready for living on my
own. I'm learning how to do stuff
around the house," he said.
NEARING THE FINISH LINE
LSA senior Andrew Laurich is
finding the reality of his fourth and
final year different from what he
expected his freshman year. "You're
more aware of 'the end of the road.'
There's a little more anxiety, appre-
hension," Laurich said. A film and
video studies major, Laurich's path
to a job in the outside world has been

eased by his extensive involvement
in extracurricular activities, includ-
ing the film club Anonymous, the
Film and Video Student Association,
and writing for Shei Magazine. Lau-
rich also has internship experiences
at Anonymous Content and Original
Film, two production companies that
will help him in the unpredictable
job market.
In spite of worries, Laurich is
excited about his last undergrad year.
"As a senior, you realize how much
you can tap from the University, aca-
demically, emotionally, religiously,"
Laurich said. "I want to go out with
a bang." He has learned to value not
just what he can bring the Universi-
ty, but what the University can bring
to him; for the first time, he takes
advantage of the professionals in the
film industry who speak directly to
students in his concentration.
As is the case with many other
seniors, Laurich is looking back
while keeping his head forward.
"In retrospect, maybe I would have
changed living situations, diversi-
fied them, maybe been a Residen-
tial Advisor," said Laurich. He has
no real regrets, however, as he is
enjoying his third year in off-cam-
pus housing, this year with eight of
his pals.
While he is prepared to move
ahead, the thought of leaving Ann
Arbor is poignant. "By day three of
welcome week," he said, "University
of Michigan becomes home."




DEPARTMENT OF STATE U.S STUDENT FULBRIGHT PROGRAM
administered by the
INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
CULBRGHT
The U.S. Department of State U.S. Student Fulbright Program funds graduate study or
research abroad in academic fields and professional training in the creative and performing
arts, as well as teaching positions. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and hold a bachelor's
degree or its equivalent by the beginning date of the grant.
For more information, visit:
http:/ /www.umich.edu/-iinet/fulbright/index.htm
or contact the U-M Fulbright Program Advisor at the International Institute at 763-3297 or
at iie.fulbright(Wumich.edu.
Application deadline for U-M students is September 23, 2004