The Canadas
|
|
Spring 1999 News Updated August 10, 2002 |
Guests for EasterThe highlight of the season was Essie’s second Easter. My parents came down from Indiana for the occasion, and we celebrated with an easter egg hunt and more. In May, I wrapped up my second full year of teaching at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. |
Easter
In
addition to the Easter Bunny, we had two special guests this Easter. My parents
traveled all the way from Indianapolis to spend the holiday with us, and the
five of us had a wonderful time. The star of the show, as always, was Esprit,
who went on an Easter egg hunt and generally reveled in the Easter Bunny's
largesse, which included a red wagon. Cast in supporting roles were my mom, who
sewed a beautiful Easter dress for Essie, and Lisa, who created several
gorgeous flower arrangements for the church.
Mark Wraps Up School Year
|
May 1999: Ever since I was a kid consuming books about baseball and writing stories inspired by my pet dachshund, I have loved to read and to write. Later, I became interested in journalism, studying it at Indiana University and working as a copy editor for two newspapers in Indiana. Finally, I settled down to teaching. Now, as I complete my second full year as a professor of English, I realize that I have the perfect job, one that allows me to pursue virtually all of my interests. For starters, I get to read all the time. For the literature courses I taught this year, I revisited some of my favorite works, including Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and chose a few new books--Dante's Inferno and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights--to expand my horizons. A research assignment last summer gave me the chance both to read and to write; in putting together an article on literary sheriffs for The Companion to Southern Literature, I read, among other things, Erskine Caldwell's God's Little Acre and James Dickey's Deliverance. The latter was so riveting that Lisa and I finished it in two days, taking turns reading it aloud to each other. I also had the satisfaction of seeing three items that I had written previously appear in print. My article "The Right Brain in Poe's Creative Process" appeared in the summer 1998 issue of The Southern Quarterly, and Oxford University Press published my entries on Thomas Dunn English and Frederick Kemper Freeman in a reference series called American National Biography. I did a little creative writing, as well, completing a sonnet called "My Esprit Nueva," inspired by Esprit's and my baptisms last year, and a haiku called "You made us," which I wrote for Lisa for Mother's Day. My teaching brought me a lot of satisfaction this year, as well. In addition to teaching composition and Major American Authors, I taught two courses for the first time: freshman seminar, which is a study skills course, and a graduate linguistics course called "Contemporary Issues in American English." I also put a new twist on Introduction to Literature, turning it into a "great books" course and exploring the issues of good and evil through the Book of Genesis, William Shakespeare's play Othello, and several other works. Finally, I even played journalist a bit as I acted as editor and publisher of All American: Literature, History, and Culture, a World Wide Web site I've created. It's as though someone designed this job just for me. I'll be certain of it when the university gives me a sabbatical to play first base and bat third for the Brewers next summer. |
Shadows linger, and I, their source, have
grown New souls, poised and charged, |