Wrong?*

What do you do when you know you're reading something wrong? I've had many years of training in how to think and how to read Literature, but sometimes, like with John Galsworthy's Forsythe Saga**, I find myself much more sympathetic to the 'villain' of the piece. The 'heroine' of the story is seemingly trapped in a loveless marriage with a husband that cannot hope to understand her or make her happy. I know that I'm supposed to feel sorry for her, with her artistic nature that is seemingly incompatible with her duty and reality bound husband. But, I don't really. She hasn't appeared to make any efforts to have a congenial relationship in a marriage that she willingly agreed to, while he would do and does anything that he thinks might make her happy or bring her pleasure.

As the series progresses, he is becoming more villainized, which compounds my frustration. While I see that the things he is doing are bad, I simply see them as results of neglect and frustration from his wife. While I'm not studying this for class or intending to write about it (yet), I am reluctant to enter into an academic discussion about such a text when I know that my opinions would be/are so contrary to mainstream academic ideology. Sadly, academia is just the place that such a discussion of character and art should be made and I wonder if my thoughts really would be rejected, or if I'm merely too cowardly to stand in an unpopular position in my department. Would that change if I were in a tenure track position rather than a graduate student still dependent on advisers and committees? I hope so, but is that being environment savvy or just weakly inconsistent?

*I'm not quite as terrible poster as it seems. I drafted this a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post it in the craziness of the past few weeks of road trips, vacations, family reunions, house sitting, and job interviews.

**I'm watching the 2002 mini-series, which I'm assured is a very literal translation of the novels, though I recognize that differences may exist. I've read quite a bit about the author and the books and feel fairly certain that I would have a similar reaction to the page as I do to the screen.

Epic.

On Friday night, I attended a Border's 'Deathly Hallows Ball' with my mom, brother, Katie, and Eden. Katie was Bellatrix; Eden was Tonks; Mom was an awesome Professor Sprout; and I was Rita Skeeter. We all looked awesome, even though none of us won the costume contest--how do you compete with five year olds?--but I was clearly the crowd favorite!

I'm not going to discuss the details of the book because I'd like people to be able to finish this decade long journey for themselves without spoilers. I will say that it was wonderful. I truly feel that Rowling has created a series that can stand next to the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings. Her complex world deals with universal, and dare I say Christian, themes that resonate to the core of who we are as humans, a mark of capital L literature for me--no matter what the intended audience or reading level for anyone who still thinks of this as merely kids' fare or the fact that the masses revere it. I was deeply satisfied with the narrative and can't wait for the day that I get to teach a class on Heroes in pop culture.

Thank you J. K. Rowling for doing what all great authors do--tell stories that have us reading all through the night and speak Truth about the human condition. That potent combination is the most bewitching, charming, and magical element of Harry Potter.

Isle Royale

Isle Royale is an island in Lake Superior that is a National Park. No wheels are allowed on the island--cars, bikes, etc.--and as a result it is very pristine wilderness, probably very similar to what it was like over a hundred years ago.

To get there, you have to take a ferry, which was fun for the first half hour, but the next three hours were not. It was very, very turbulent; a third of the passengers were throwing up, and most of those who weren't were trying not to.

We hiked everywhere, staying at a different place every night. We obviously carried everything we needed for the four days on the island, packing out our garbage, etc. No campfires are allowed, so we had a little proprane tank and a camping stove.

In the middle of the trip, I woke up with my left eye nearly swollen shut. I'd gotten a bug bite on my eye lid during the night. It took a few days, but eventually it went away, though hiking was strange with impaired vision.


Our biggest day was 10.5 miles along the center ridge of the island with a lunch stop at an observation tower at the highest point. Our weather was perfect--no rain, sunny and 70s during the day. The nights were a little cold (in the 40s), which made our tents wet by morning because of condensation from our breath.

All in all it was a fun time; lots of pretty scenery and snazy wildflowers. Nathan saw a wolf, and he and I think we saw a moose swimming on the other end of a lake we were camped near. Nothing close or prolonged, but still wild kingdom-y.

Ratatouille

Okay, I've got lots that I want to say about my two vacations in the past two weeks (one to Isle Royale and the other to Cornerstone), but I want to quickly tell the world how excited I am to see Ratatouille. I loved the concept, the location, etc., but all my hopes for greatness were confirmed when I saw the trailer that used "Hello, Hello" by one of my favorite bands The Cat Empire. If it's in the film too, I may have a conniption in the theater.