Two weeks ago I made a promise to update my literary adventure through Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 each week. But every time I sat down last week to write about part two, “The Part about Amalfitano” something happened and I couldn’t write.

“Amalfitano” is the dreamlike exploration of the women in Professor Amalfitano’s life who have shaped him the most: his wife Lola and his daughter Rosa.

What makes Bolaño’s investigation of these stories so interesting is his telling. Though a glance at the page finds Amalfitano’s name over and over again it is through his experience of the women that we learn of them. Because they are his focus they are the readers,’ though filtered through Amalfitano’s memories.

Deconstructing these layers shows their intricacy, through reading them it is clear. Amalfitano watches Rosa as she gets ready for school, he remembers a letter Lola sent him when she abandoned him and Rosa. We, as readers, are left with the impression these women left on a man who we know only through a series of nonsensical actions. His emotions, and theirs, are left to conjecture.

So, why was it so difficult to write about that? Because when “Amalfitano” came to an end there was no closure, there was some mystery left that caused a friend to tell me that he might be stuck, that he wanted to go back and reread part two. I understand the desire but must advise that going back will not yield answers. One must press on to solve the riddle of Rosa Amalfitano, a woman who seen through the eyes of another man is so different she brings to mind Luis Buñel’s Conchita.

As “The Part About Fate” begins the elegance of language that drove “The Part About the Critics” and the surrealism of “The Part About Amalfitano” slide from the memory. The plot lines of “Fate” are written with a clunky voice that lumbers along in a straightforward, yet compelling, tale until the journalist, whom is at the center of the story, travels to Mexico. When he is thrust out of the familiar world, the readers, who at this point have stuck with Bolaño for 300 of his 900 pages, return to comfortable and strange one of the previous two acts. As the journalist’s experiences in Mexico spiral out of his understanding 2666 gains momentum and the story thrusts forward into the much discussed fourth, “The Part About The Crimes.”

Though March is through I found, today, the Tournament of Books, a sweet 16 March Madness tourney for book nerds, in which Bolaño’s opus has fared quite well.

Who says politics and art don’t mix? One CSF student take a little moment to vent about his school.

More than 300 students at the College of Santa Fe have signed their names to a petition, delivered yesterday to the college’s Board of Trustees, threatening legal action if “the Spring 2009 semester were to terminate before the scheduled end of this semester (5/16/09).”

The petition comes at a time when the troubled college has cut staff hours and faculty pay in order to make it through the next few weeks. As SFR reported in mid-March faculty are committed to finishing out the semester despite the deep pay cuts. In the petition students acknowledge the hardship and dedication of their teachers saying, “by attempting to account for money needed to complete this semester by drastically reducing the salaries of the faculty, and the working hours of the staff, to the point of being unlivable, we believe that our current quality of education is dramatically lessened, and we similarly see this as a serious breach of our contract.”

Though the Govener, last week, put together a task force to try to save the failing institution students, staff and faculty fear the land that CSF sits upon will be foreclosed on by bondholders, leaving the school with no home.

On CSF’s website a frequently asked questions page has been set up to try to alleviate the fears. In response to rumors that the spring semester will go uncompleted the school says “We are doing everything we can to reduce costs and bring in additional revenue to complete the semester. We have made very drastic cuts to personnel expenses including staff layoffs, and faculty and staff salary reductions. President Kirk is actively pursuing ways to bring in revenue between now and the end of the semester. We intend to finish the semester.” As for forclosure the school asserts that “this process would take many months, if not years. At this time no action has been initiated so it is almost impossible for this to happen this semester.”

But, while the land itself may be safe the promise late last year that money had been secured for the spring semester has proven incorrect. The petition states that students “believe that we have been fraudulently or negligently misled to think that the Spring semester of 2009 was completely paid for, without expense to our quality of education (as of Fall of 2008). The entire college community was informed numerous times in a wide array of public forums, mass emails, and letters that the Spring 2009 semester was completely secured through donations from a board member and an alum.”

In February Govenor Bill Richardson’s office halted a $3 million land sale to Highlands University in order to allow House Bill 577 to pass through the legislature before a possible acquiring university would be allowed to stake a claim on the school. HB 577 never made it through the complete legislative round, getting stuck in the Senate Finance Committee for the final two weeks of the session.

Because that land deal fell through the college declared a financial emergency, which led to the staff and faculty hour and pay cuts. Faculty members are scheduled to receive half of their remaining salaries as a lump sum after the spring semester, though there are many doubts among the faculty that the school will have the funds to pay that sum. Faculty have met with lawyers over the last few weeks to assess their options in regards to the cuts.

OK, it’s only for one game. But seriously, does the Western Athletic Conference not understand our nation’s most basic legal principles?

Let’s recap. Completely unprovoked, Big Blue from Utah ripped off Pistol Pete’s New Mexican State Moustache. Pistol Pete was defending himself! And for that, he’s punished?

Anyway, read the AP story yourself at SportingNews, and seethe. Also, here’s our previous coverage of the mascot throwdown.

This Penitentiary of New Mexico escapee was spotted outside of Todos Santos in Sena Plaza. He is armed but not dangerous, mostly just cute, sugary and delicious.

Last seen wearing a lucha libre mask (the scarring on his face is severe and is an all-too-painful reminder of a childhood incident he refuses to discuss) and about 5 billion Pez dispensers, Pezman is a consummate storyteller and an accommodating host, even within the confines of his prison cell. Always one for a good laugh, he made quite a raucous escaping from prison—to be fair, though, he should not have been locked up in the first place; he’s an innocent man—and is now roaming the streets of Santa Fe, doing his best to keep off of the authorities’ radar.

But if you do spot him, let him be. He was never guilty of the crimes with which he was charged. His proclivities toward candy and hanging out with children are merely innocent diversions, just vestiges of a lost childhood, one he is trying to recapture.

More photos of the friendly fugitive after the jump.

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