Books: a love, hate relationship.

It has been forever and a day since i last wrote. Camp is over once again and i am back at school, reading my days away. Once again, camp was lovely, one of my most favorite summers in fact. But oddly, i was ready to move onto the next thing. I am not sure what that something was because the sound of school sounded daunting, and had nothing else on the agenda; i was simply in the mindset of that i have come and done what i set out to do. I have been mulling over the idea of going back for one more summer, but alas, i must quit because right now i have a million other things on my mind. I am already far behind in readings for class; i am unsure how i will ever catch up. It's not that i haven't been doing them, it's just that there is so much. Today i read a book titled, The Idea that is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World. A very interesting read and i thoroughly enjoyed it. However, i still have a rising stack of books/articles/textbooks that need to be read. Next item up for tonight is Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. It needs to be completed with a discussion guide by next Friday; the book is 434 pages! I might die. I love books, and long books have never scared me. The problem is i am unsure when i will read all of that in just a week with everything else. I guess, somehow it always gets done, no sense in worrying. 

I love all my classes. I am once again with the famous Diana Magnuson and Gordon William Carlson, my two favorite profs. They sure are work horses, but i still like them...sometimes. :) In G.W.'s class, there were three of us who had had him in his Classics in Western Political Philosophy, so he picked on us immensely and scared the sophomores immensely with his direct questions, which are intimidating. One poor girl completely forgot the Pledge of Allegiance when asked to recite it during class. I felt bad for her, she was so embarrassed. Anyways, i shined in his class when he asked me to tell the class all i knew about the Pledge, which was actually quite a lot since it fascinated me during one of G.W.'s previous lectures. I left feeling pretty confident. 

One funny story and then i should read for class again. So, last year when i was in G.W.'s office and discussing my thoughts on grad school and working in a museum, he somehow got the impression that i was a man hating type of feminist. Not really sure which part of my thought process gave him that idea. Anyways, he continued to tell me a story about when his daughter was at Bethel. A certain young freshman boy was pursuing her and gave her a book to read before he would date her. The main thesis of the book was that females should be completely submissive to male authority in the marriage. G.W. asked me what i thought she had done after reading the book. I responded that she probably gave the book back and said, "no thanks". He laughed and he will forever remember that day in AC211. In class he was telling this story to the entire class and asked me to tell the class how it ended and worked out for the hopeful couple. G.W. likes me. I am much more confident beginning my second class with the famous G.W. than i was last semester. I am thankful for that bit of confidence.