Mamacita says:  1.  BlogHer is eight months away, but I’m already counting down until it gets here!

2.  I firmly believe that people who don’t like poetry probably had teachers who didn’t know how to present it.  Ditto for Shakespeare.  Done properly, both are wondrous!  I also believe that it is inexcusable to not present them properly.

3.  I bought Christmas gift tags today, and it thrilled me way out of proportion to the occasion.

4.  My students are learning how to write summaries, and a section of this includes writing a movie review.  I used to let them choose their own movie, to watch on their own and write up, but after a particularly unfortunate semester of reading review after review of “Big Momma’s House,” “Road Trip,” and “Little Nicky,” I now have each student write about the same movie, which I show in class.  Tomorrow’s the day.  The timing couldn’t be better; I’m so bone-wrenchedly tired, I don’t think I could lecture for three hours, twice.  Probably not even once.

5.  I love soft warm socks.

6.  I love soft warm purring cats that sleep on me, too.

7.  I love to trace words, expressions, and idioms back to their earliest known point of origin.  I leave no stone unturned in doing this, and I give my students carte blanche with their word choices.

8.  “Idiom” is a fun word.

9.  My favorite piece of literature by Mark Twain is The Diary of Adam and Eve. I laughed out loud all through it, and cried out loud when I read that last page.  (Spoiler ahead!) I still think Adam’s last line is one of the most beautiful and romantic lines in all literature.  Then again,  Eve’s is pretty good, too.

Eve: “But if one of us must go first, it is my prayer that it shall be I; for he is strong, I am weak, I am not so necessary to him as he is to me – life without him would not be life; how could I endure it?”

And then Adam, at Eve’s grave:  “Wheresoever she was, there was Eden.”

10.  If you are not an avid reader, it might not be entirely your fault.  You might be the victim of unprepared teachers and a system that only values measurable results.  (Neither is forgiveable)  Give books another chance!  Don’t let the system win!!!!  Influences are all around us, and we must choose wisely.  “Don’t ask me who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life.” ~ Giorgos Seferis