It's been a while

I haven't posted in a while and I have plenty of excuses why. I know you don' t want to hear them, so here it goes... Mostly grad school and family but grad school is done for the semester, there is still family stuff here and there but, I can try to discuss a few thoughts that have swirled in my head these past few weeks. There has been a lot going on and I have definitely had thoughts and opinions about many of these goings on… 

I’ll write about the legislature and what I’m doing in my classroom later but I really want to confess something in this post. It’s something I’ve done, and it is also another reason I have fallen behind in my blogging. I'm in love all over again. I don’t always do a good job of making time for, reading. I’ve gone in and out of reading spells and moods throughout my life. I spent a lot of high school avoiding it and working around it as much as possible. I read what I was supposed to but that was about it. It wasn't that I couldn’t or didn’t really want to, I just really didn't want to. I love it again. A lot.

It annoyed the hell out of my dad. He was a remarkably voracious reader. Every evening he would sit in a corner chair in our living room with a Stephen King book and wonder why we wouldn't read. As I’ve grown older I’ve found that love again. There is a part of me that wishes I had never fallen out of love with it, but I also have developed a deep appreciation for it since I can recall how dull and bland my life was when I wasn’t invading the thoughts and imaginations of others through their written word. I know his example is where I get that touchstone to return to. 

Grad school makes you read. My degree is in Native American Leadership so a number of the courses center around the culture, history, and heritage of theIndian  people. Working to understand their story and legacy has rekindled a curiosity in me. Our human history is remarkably entertaining, and I have a hard time understanding how people don't see that. I love learning about the similarities between our behaviors (both individually and collectively) and their consequences. 

I've annoyed a number  of my friends recently with this new found obsession of mine. I visited the Full Circle Book Store in OKC (If you haven’t you should) and picked up a couple of books. One I really can’t put down, and another I can’t wait to begin. As a history teacher and student I love reading history. Good history, real history. History that can touch me. Do I have to tell you I've read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United State? I'm guessing most figured that out. Well, at full circle I found a collection of essays and articles titled On History. The writings are incredible. And remarkably relevant to our time. (This is me telling you to read them too!)

So I have been tearing through the pages and don't really want to stop… Plenty has gone on I've just not wanted to hinder reading new ideas by trying to organize my old thoughts. I have a few other ideas and have received some urging to write about one in particular. I'll have that one for later this week...

As a history student and teacher reading about history is what I truly love. Winston Churchill's declaration "the farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see" never rings more true than during a study of human history. You don't have to love it as much as I do, but understanding it is incredibly valuable. 

I know this is a kinda bland post, I'm sorry I'll make up for it I promise.