Of School and Women

A mix of grit and vulnerability, Lynette Autry and Marie Martinez strike out on their own in Florida's capital city to reinvent themselves, when a late-night serendipitous meeting sparks their unlikely friendship. Are their past choices indicative of their future? Or are their reckless lifestyles behind them? Guys and grades, sex and drugs, money and love. Will they find their way through it all?

Socializing in person is their norm. They can't rely on electronic communication to make friends or find jobs, so these two first generation college women show up, leaving their tumultuous pasts behind in search of new career opportunities.

Lynette Autry, on the brink of a new life, moves into the projects, registers for school, and finds a job bartending at the airport. Balancing it all drives her to despondency, until a late-night serendipitous meeting with nurse and pre-med student, Marie Martinez, whose friendliness is contagious. Youthful follies ensue. Marie falls prey to a too-good-for-true-opportunity. And together with Dillan, a piano playing aircraft mechanic and Fr. Juan, a Catholic parish diaconate, they become part of the spirit of a larger community, when adversity changes to resilience. And helping each other, laughter, love, and self-acceptance prevail.

This near-miss story is a testimony to the idiom, If you can't be good, be careful. And to the cultures of college campuses, new adults, airlines, restaurants, bars, drugs, survivors, nonconformists, scamming, females, individuality, the 80's, disabled learners, Catholics, Latinos, Caucasians, Liberals, and to the declaration of reinventing yourself.

A candidly insightful nonfiction narrative told with curiosity and understanding about the power of helping each other, Of School and Women is based on Marquis' experiences during her early twenties from 1985-1987, when she lived at the Alumni Village housing project, attended Florida State University, and bartended at the Tallahassee Airport Lounge.