As a ritual I have adopted from one of my favorite professors, priests and friends, Ed Ingebretsen, I try to focus my new year reading on a specific goal. That goal has always been reading something that can help me be a better person, father, son, educator or friend. Fr. Ingebretsen reread Dante's Inferno as a way to refocus on human frailty and humility as new year celebrations focused on other parts of the human condition. I have altered his ritual slightly for myself, but I still retain the focus on human frailty and humility. The two texts I am reading this year have come to me via different routes, but I appreciate them nonetheless. The first, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, came to me by recommendation from one of my favorite people in the world. I have enjoyed the philosophical underpinings of this text and its goal of helping reach personal freedom. The ideas in this book fit very nicely into my experiences as principal and will continue to help me develop in this role over time.
Tom Robbins' Wild Ducks Flying Backward needed no recommendation. His work has left its indelible mark on me since I first read Still Life with Woodpecker as part of a Georgetown University class on John Milton and Paradise Lost. Though seemingly incongruous, I would be happy to explain how Robbins' 1975 novel fits into a 17th Century poem, if anyone is interested. Since that time, his work has been a key part of my educational philosophy as well as both Baccalaureate addresses I gave in 2002 and 2006. Though I have only begun reading this collection of his shorter works, I still find his emphasis on the role individuals can play in improving our world, the inherent humor of the human experience and the parody of our foibles make his work entertaining at the same time it challenges me to re-evaluate my role in the world.
With each of my posts, I try to have a point for all readers to gain. This post is not meant to advertise for these specific texts nor am I recommending anyone feel compelled to read these books. I read because I enjoy the serenity and solitude a book provides in balance to the hustle and bustle of daily life. I enjoy the mental challenges of interacting with a text to create meaning and application to my life. I seek to experience texts both as windows to parts of life I have not experienced and mirrors to parts of life I have. Our school goals for reading are not tied solely to the required assessments. We share our love of reading to help students become lifelong learners and readers. This conversation need not only take place within our building. I would be interested in having people post what they are reading. I am sure there will be many exciting opportunities and difficult challenges in 2007. I like to get started from a position of serenity and reflection.