Piper completes Ph.D. dissertation, "A New Model of Rationality," with John Rawls. Buys house. Piper 's maternal Uncle Martin dies. Piper gets really, really sick with "the yuppie disease" (an undiagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness). Performs It's Just Art at AND/OR in Seattle, Washington, where member of audience asks Piper why she is up on stage shaking her booty. Hears Ornette Coleman perform live. Reads Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker. Sees Steve Martin's Pennies From Heaven.