Word: sparta
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...surprisingly, Charlotte Simmons is the focus of the novel, and her jarring introduction to college life mirrors the surprise Wolfe hopes many readers unfamiliar with the subject will feel. The brainiac brunette from the tiny town of Sparta, in North Carolina’s Alleghany County, is so sheltered in her books and her quaint family life that she has never tasted alcohol, danced, or (we are expected to believe), learned the very first thing about sex. This is because, according to Wolfe, her mother abhorred the subject and—as we all know—parents are where...
...engage in a bender of self-doubt in which she is described, simply as “depressed,” literally dozens of times by an uncharacteristically unimaginative Wolfe. Charlotte also mentally appeals innumerable times to “Mama,” her mother back in Sparta, a maternal figure straight out of the ’50s—the 1850s...
...exactly, is Charlotte Simmons? Wolfe's heroine is a freshman at prestigious, fictional Dupont University in Philadelphia. They don't come much fresher than Charlotte. A native of tiny, remote Sparta, N.C., the brilliant, virginal Charlotte arrives at Dupont full of dewy ambition, expecting to live "a life of the mind." Instead, she encounters charming, predatory frat boys like the handsome Hoyt Thorpe; jock demigods like basketball star Jojo Johanssen; and icy prep-school snobs like her roommate, the bitchy Groton grad Beverly. Instead of an ivory tower, she finds a status-obsessed, intellectually bankrupt sexual romper room. Will...
...WELCOME TO SPARTA Forget the toga parties, concierge services and fruit bowls in the office. For most workers, those perks fluttered away after the Clinton boom years and probably won't return, benefits consultants say. Under the new regime, you may not be allowed to dial directory assistance at work, as some employees at Credit Suisse First Boston have discovered. Fewer companies are letting workers keep the frequent-flyer miles they rack up on business travel. DaimlerChrysler, which routinely paid $100 bonuses to corporate-sales folks who sold a car to a retail customer, has eliminated the extra cash reward...
...pregnancy weight and more. I have now mastered the Zone diet; it easily fits into my routine. Of course I have to make sacrifices to maintain my size 4, but I would rather pass up a trip to Baskin-Robbins than inject myself with hormones. KELLY VALENCIA Sparta...