Holly, this isn't really a response to your voice card as it is a response to your sweet post card (It was a beautiful aerial view of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where Holly lives) that you sent me a month or so ago. In it you ask a question related to Archipelago, however.

The question is as follows: "Is FLW the setting of the Roth story in your SillyBus?" The question was a reference to VC 26 Stuart 9 ("My Silly Bus?"), a response to Yumi's request for the works that I teach in my American Jewish Lit class at OSU.

The "Roth story" that Holly refers to is "Defender of the Faith," a short story in his collection "Goodbye, Columbus," his first book, published when he was 25, which won the National Book Award ("Aaargh," says I, in petty-assed writer jealousy ). The book is still in print, and it's also in many anthologies, such as "Jewish American Stories," edited by Irving Howe.

Anyway, the story is about a Jewish G.I. just back from serving in Europe in WWII. He is now back in the states serving at, not at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, but at Camp Crowder, Missouri. Sorry, Holly (Does this mean you're not going to read the story now? ).