
Thought of a character Wednesday in class, with the English 100 group– winemaker, 39 y/o, suddenly quits drinking. Not ’cause she has to, just to see what happens as a result. That, and she wants to think more clearly, she wants out of the wine industry. She hates the industry for robbing her of her passion for wine, the vineyards, process. They made it too ‘industry’ for her. She wants out. So before one tasting with the corporate people, called in to do so on her day off, she stands in front of them at the head of the long boardroom table and says, “I can’t do this.” She leaves, for travel, traveling around the world and taking pictures, keeping a photojournal, online. Yes, a blog. But she also scribbles in a little notebook her late-grandmother bought her just before she died, three years prior. She, Juli, knows this is when she has to do it. She buys herself a new camera, walks around some of the vineyards she used to source from, then books her first flight.
She feels alive for the first time since entering the industry.