Update with things

Just a quick update and an observation I had today.

I’m currently belly button-deep in Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves and it is great.  The words are a little tricky to get through but the story is intruiging and fun.  I have heard from folks who have read it that the book gets scary, which will be interesting for me because I have never actually read a book that frightened me.  I don’t say that in a macho, nothing-scares-me-but-being-a-sissy kind of way, I have just never read a scary book before.  Along with Danielewski, I have been making my way through yellowrocket, the poetry collection by Minnesota poet Todd Boss.  The book is little and cute and full of the kind of stuff that fills my heart with that warm, happy feeling.  I have been going through the book slowly, drinking down each poem with relish, letting the words alight on my tongue and tick-tack around my teeth.  Todd reading his own poetry made me realize how much better words can sound when read aloud and so I have been doing that, alone in my room, with his words.  I can’t say that it is even the tiniest bit as wonderful as it was when he read to us, but whispering those words to myself gives them a life and vigor that can’t be found when they stay dormant on the page.

Walking to class today, I noticed a few small birds not far from me, hopping around on the ground in some feathery game of hopscotch.  It was neat to see and I had stopped to do just that when a larger bird, glossy black and blue in color, landed in the midst of them all, scaring the young wings away.  As I stood there watching, the old bird walked around, pecking the ground and casting his quick, frantic eyes around in the ever important task of spotting danger.  It occured to me as I watched that big usurper that I had never seen a little bird walk by alternating both feet, while most of the big birds I had seen all walked one-foot-in-front-of-the-other style.  I’m sure this doesn’t hold true for every bird on the planet but the more I think about it, the more I can remember always seeing little birds hopping along with both feet at a time, as though on some mobile trampoline, meanwhile, the big raptor-descendants are calmly stalking around the same area, checking the skies for incoming enemies.  Interesting, no?

Going back to where I really want to be

I’ve been pondering my decision to add on the environmental studies major as of late.  In an earlier post (If I knew anything about computers I would place a link here) I talked about how I wanted the purpose of my life to be helping people, how I didn’t think it was alright to just do what I liked doing, how I felt a need to do good for the world and to place that deed on top of my priority list.  I’ve been pondering it as of late because I don’t feel totally right about it.  I still want to help people and I still want to help the environment but I love literature and I love digging into texts and uncovering the hidden gems inside.  I know the world needs people that make saving the environment their job, their main priority but the world also needs people that do the other jobs, the ones that don’t have a direct impact on the environment and the thing that I have finally realized is that neither one of these people is more important than the other.  And I also realized that I want to be the second guy because I think the continued education of literature is important.  Really important.  Literature represents such a huge part of the beauty of the human world and the study of it is crucial for developing so many of the tools that prepare people to be succesful in this world.  English classes have developed my ability to think critically, my appreciation for the power and scope of words and ideas, my ability to communicate effectively and my understanding of why we need books and words and writers and readers in this so often sad and dreary world.  I want to show other people why literature is so important and help them understand the need to spread this understanding and appreciation around.  I guess this means I’m back to where I was and back to where I really want to be.