Things I Learned This Week
Cairo, Hugh Grant, King Arthur, American Lit, and Sea Slugs!
Holy moly. I am psyched for the holidays, time off and a break. What a week, y’all. Lots is going on, but here are the fun takeaways from a good one.
Mahfouz's Miramar was a great read. My husband and I went to Cairo as part of a 7-month round the world trip. Egypt was our top three behind Vietnam and before Tanzania. Cairo is a spectacular city, and the novel really captures a specific political time and place (plus sex and murder, all the good stuff). Mahfouz wrote this book in the 60s, the same story four different times from four different points of view. The teacher mentioned the Rashomon vibes and also that it is the movie everyone says they have seen, but no one has actually seen it all the way through. Facts. On the list to right that wrong soon.
In The Buried Giant, Ishiguro does a post-round-table hero’s journey. I am having fun with this one. Sir Gawain, dragons, ogres, and lots of human drama in a world where everyone keeps forgetting. My final paper on Ishiguro is about his recurring use of spiders. I also have a final paper on Virginia Woolf, time, and panpsychism in world literature. This should be a fun few weeks. ;)
On the more powderpuff side of life, I went to see Heretic with my sister, and wow, what an international treasure Hugh Grant is. The movie is good, but he is fabulous. Talk about a fine wine. I was never a super fan until I listened to his WTF interview. Boy, did I have that guy wrong. It's worth a watch (and listen).
One of my good friend’s daughters is a good friend now, and this past summer she kinda turned me on full steam to Taylor Swift. I am getting this out in the open now before my son inspects my Spotify wrapped for the year, and I get busted for listening to the Tortured Poet’s Department on repeat. Sorry, Augie!
I registered for next semester: Decolonizing Shakespeare, Senior Studio Photography, my last lower level English class—American Lit with lots of my faves (Didion, Oates, Hemingway, Ellison, Faulkner, Elliott, Frost), Art History (renaissance to modern), and Senior Honors English Thesis. Good times ahead and then graduation! Time is flying by, but I’m still having the time of my life.
Lastly, the final takeaways from college this week is how cool sea slugs are, and I have to draw a human skull at 18 X 24 this weekend which I will be terrible at.
Shoot me now.
Quote of the week?
“I’ve been so engulfed in the past that I’ve come to feel and believe that there is no future.” — Naguib Mahfouz, from Miramar
‘Til Tuesday kids.
Burgin
(I’m finishing college at 50+, follow along and read my story here.)