things you never knew about your teachers

this is finals week. in theory i should be beyond busy. a time of seriousness, grading papers, the pressure of the FINAL grade. and yet ive said no. i stayed up last night taping a giant santa to my window. (for more details of this story, please see daniel or michael)

ive finished three books this week and have shed a tear during the reading of each book. this is impressive only to those who know im not the kind to watch lifetime or to smile at hallmark commercials.

i read sue monk kidd's "the mermaid chair" in one sitting. huddled on my couch beneath my mum's old paisley sleeping bag. comforted by raspberry sorbet and hot towels for muscle spasms. its a flawed story. kidd has an ability to suck me in & then disappoint me. but this story had substance and understood something im grappling with- the seduction of change.

i finished a.n. wilson's biography of c.s. lewis on tuesday and i loved it for all the reasons ive already mentioned. wilson describes an eccentric old man, who often had difficulties reconciling his personal beliefs with the doctrines of his church. i cried with him when he couldnt get his church to bless his marriage with joy. i am disheartened at the distortion of his legacy.

i finished reading "the red tent" this morning. i stayed up till 2am trying to finish. i love that feeling, that sated feeling of finishing a good novel late at night. i checked out "the red tent" from the central arkansas library system. i have rediscovered my love of the library(mainly due to the realization that a goodly portion of my monthly check was supporting amazon.com and b&n. more than i was spending on food...). on pg.25 there is a note written at the bottom of the page: the stories in this book are very distorted for the true story read Genesis 27-50. i appreciate the community of a shared story.

today, while my kids watch "the muppet wizard of oz", i have leon uris' "redemption" waiting for me. im anticipating the story, the lyric. "trinity" was one of my favorite books in high school. my father's copy is worn and the pages are marked at familiar places. i fell in love with the story of the irish. i think this marks the beginning of my interest in the non-hawaiian side of my family. i remember sitting uris down & finding new delight in my green eyes and mismatched freckles. they had always seemed out of place on olive skin, but now they had a history.
and i like anything with a story.