Little Women

Hello all!

I am back today, and it's going swimmingly. Today is probably one of the longest days of my school year, but the fruits of the day will be splendid. We have conferences until 8:00 this evening, and then my old friend and roommate Tim will be in town for a few days of debauchery and good old fashioned fun. Good times will be had by all, to be sure.

I went to a conference yesterday that was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Learned a lot, and I"m REALLY looking forward to putting into practice what I learned.

So, on with the topic at hand...

Little Women is still amazing...it's been such an interesting journey of a book. The prose and style have drawn me into a time that I am very much unaccustomed to. To be able to experience the joys, the triumphs, the pains and trials of the March girls has been somewhat of a priviledge. I've taken true delight in traveling through the story with the girls as they resolve to be more loving, more kind, more sisterly, and more appreciative of all the blessings they are given. And, actually, it's been an interesting correlation with "Of Mice and Men". Lennie and George simply want a small piece of land to call their own, to be independent and free. Joy, Meg, Beth and Amy want little more, albeit varyingly through the story. Both stories have impressed upon me the undeniable fact that I am a truly blessed individual. I have SO much to be thankful for, and often times I lose sight of those things; it is, indeed, a blessing unto itself to have the realization brought to my attention.

The most interesting point for me thus far in the adventure, has been experiencing Jo's earnest desire to foil Meg's engagement to Mr. Brookes. Her intentions, her motivations behind this are truly unique to her time period, and they are utterly foreign to me. Meg is 17 years old, and she is far too young to be thinking about boys, according to Jo. However, it doesn't immediately occur to me that Brookes will not simply be asking Meg out for pizza--the engagement (a THREE YEAR ENGAGEMENT!!!!??!?!?) is quite abrupt.

The joy in this book is seeing how the tale unfolds in such elegant and beautiful prose. The sisters are so dear and loving, and yet, genuine in the picturesque qualities. (Wow, so I never thought that those would all go together, but Alcott has done an amazing job.) Ok, so I'm going to stop gushing, and I'm going to get back to the story...

Thanks for reading...

Tommy