All through the book, I waited for the word germinal to crop up. But it doesn't make its appearance until the last sentence, and even then, it's germination that Zola's talking about. Surely this isn't why I read the story. I actually believed that there was going to be a character with that name, but that didn't work out ( Read more... )

I'm not sure if there is more than one interpretation of my dream.

In a jumble of days from this past May, I was in the testing room, simultaneously completing four A.P. tests, which contained prompts such as: Using only the proper French names of trees, convey the history of the American Indian tribe of your choice. I knew (somehow) that if ( Read more... )

I almost did several things today: remember my dream (no wait, there was something about a natural bridge on the UN World Heritage list), finish reading Germinal, take a long run (I did run six miles), and accomplish something meaningful. Mostly, I read election coverage. I didn't realize that there were so many factors in this election, not to ( Read more... )

Lodged in my memory bank next to the words coyote, Big Bang, vegetarian, circle, and noun, is the Summer solstice. If anything's important in the grand scheme of things, it's one of those. Secretary and Mother's Day may fall in and out of observance a thousand times in the cycle of civilizations, but we'll still have the solstices and equinoxes ( Read more... )

I've witnessed so many TV weddings in my life, so it was interesting to go to a real one yesterday. The ceremony was definitely longer than the typical TV wedding (unless you count one of those weeklong soap weddings. The readings were from Song of Songs and Revelation (what else?). I'm not sure if it changed me, even if it was a good excuse to ( Read more... )

I'm not sure what the use is in making a list. But for posterity, you know.

I have a history of "making fun" of people, places, and things. In fifth grade, I chanted the word "Hanson" so many times in a distorted, high-pitched voice, that a complaint made its way to the peace book Certain people are making fun of my favorite band by saying their ( Read more... )

Hmmm...I think it's best to read a hard book all at once. Here's one sentence in Germinal:

Ils pataugaient, deja ereintes de leurs efforts pour decoller leurs semelles, a chaque enjambee. (They splashed about, aready exhausted in their effort to unstick their soles in every stride ( Read more... )

The dream from night before last was disappointing, since the only thing I remember is the name V.S. Naipaul ( Read more... )

So far, Germinal has been a bit of a downer. It's France's answer to muckraking books like The Jungle, though right now, it's very much like Coal Miner's Daughter. I guess it's all supposed to be about coal mines.

Maybe after I finish that, I can start Anna Karenina. I ought to read something Russian. Besides, due to a rip in the fabric of the ( Read more... )

While canoe trips these days usually involve some outdoor, wild location, there's a mall in Southern California that offers facilities for contained paddling, on its semi-indoor "river". There's a stretch of twisting rapids, followed by a conveyor belt that takes you back to the start ( Read more... )