dear gifted dears,

hope you’re well – two weeks – sniff:( i know you’re all very sad…

congrats to kaitlin b for winning the prize of first to blog this summer – not only does she win an A for the year, she also will get first dibs on our nook in the classroom

what’s that, you say??? a nook? yes, we have a barnes and noble e-reader for the class now – i’m excited – very excited – very geeked up – did i mention i was excited???

we also have a new camera for the newsroom – but nothing as cool as the nook!!!

as for reading, last week, i worked media days so i read a ton about sec football (in short, every coach is optimistic about the year to come and every fan thinks their team will be undefeated this year) – i finished the new testament for the third time in a year – so i went back to the book of isaiah

i’m about 100 pages from finishing “the promise” by jonathan alter – about president obama’s first year in office – sadly, i’d forgotten much of what happened in 2009 – the book reminds me of a bob woodard book i read in ’94 on clinton’s first year in office – sort of the “inside” story – and as a political junkie, i love those types of books

next up is “the hardest questions aren’t on the test” – an education book – that and some of the BOB material should keep me busy until i see ya’ll – take care

sincerely,
mafeld

dear darlings,
i’m off to work football media days with the sec for the next few days – so not much reading – outside of football – which doesn’t count in most academic circles – and why are all academic geometric shapes circles anyway???

on to the list…
“wounded by school” – wonderful book about how school can really mess you up – while the last sentence can be read with sarcasm, the book did have a point – i made the most notes on that book that i’ve made on a book in a long, long time – scary responsibility to be a teacher sometimes…

“i can now die in peace” by bill simmons – i think i got the title right – anyway, the book was about the 2004 red sox – the first few pages were very, very funny – afterwards, what i enjoyed was just going back to a time when people wondered if the red sox would ever win a title – what a difference a few years makes

“a perfect mess” by eric abrahamson – how small messes are actually good – made me feel better about my house:) actually, the book had a good point – that being obsessed over order isn’t good – it’s psychotic – i thought that the point was made by like 12 and the following 300 pages sort of just beat the poor point to death

“far side gallery” – funny, funny book – and sense gary larson, the creator of the series – did the book, there was plenty of back story on some of his favorite cartoons – had forgotten how much i enjoyed the series until that read

guess those are the highlights – hope you enjoy your hot summer days

sincerely,
dr roy

yo,
still in big book land – although i’ve finished the previous ones i’ve discussed…

bonhoeffer – i’m taking a break to blog b/c i’ve read 220 pages today in the book – incredible read about a german pastor that in his late 20s, early 30s, had enough insight to see past and fight hitler – bonhoeffer lost his life near the end of hitler’s reign – fascinating story about standing up to evil

the scandal of father brown – an english mystery collection – from about 100 years ago – read the book pretty quickly – wasn’t very impressed – humorous at times – not so at other times

marathon by hal higdon – i got the book at the chicago marathon – waited nine months to read it – and then was thoroughly disappointed – not at all what i’d hoped – the part about the pope running in the marathon was amusing – other things weren’t (and since this is a G-rated blog we’ll leave things at that)

more fire – started re-reading this book about kenyan running – very motivated group – we have things so lucky (unless you’re my sister and then you’re injured every third day)

working on my nanowrimo book – hit the 35,000 word mark today – yeah!

sincerely,
dr mafeld

no surprise what i was reading this week as based upon the title – two heavyweights – both over 700 pages long – my arms are weak from reading:)

jonathan edwards – a biography from a professor at yale – the book won a christian biography award in 2003 – edwards was a pastor during the great awakening – i’m a sucker for pre-revolutionary war history – i guess a puritan at heart – so i really, really enjoyed the book – expected to take a lot longer to finish it but got caught up in the book and read it in about four days (not bad for teeny-tiny print that was over 700 pages)

just as i am by billy graham – read this autobiography when it came out – in 1997 – it was long as well, over 700 pages – amazingly, the book didn’t come close to analyzing and relaying all the events that have happened in graham’s life – despite that, the book was a wonderful read – an ecouragement to keep the faith

now write by someone – actually, the someone was an editor – the book was a collection of writing exercises – 90 percent of them weren’t particularly great – but i found a couple – one that was really awesome – so it was worth the reading

other things – i started rereading the new testament in may – i’m nearly through romans now – sports illustrated is backing up on me at CMS, but i’ve managed to keep up with the world through the economist – and christianity today – and history channel magazine – and runner’s world

speaking of runner, i’m headed to peavine falls this weekend for a run up a mountain – and then back down – oh, and 1.2 miles of trail – all in all, 8.2 miles of fun – hope your reading is going well

sincerely,

mafeld