ENGLISH LIT--PART ONE

Digitally enhanced photo by S. Auberle

Went to see The Other Boleyn Girl yesterday. Not the greatest movie I've seen, by far, but tolerable. I am a passionate fan of all things medieval English. This may date back to high school, and my first exposure to this period. Not in History class, no, that was boring and dull--nothing but battles. My awakening occurred in English Lit class, when I balanced the true, romantic tale of Katherine Swynford and the Duke of Lancaster in front of my textbook and totally lost myself in their love story until another (rude) awakening occurred. I reluctantly tore myself away from the English castles to find a very tall nun staring down at me and (rudely) snatching the book away, with the terse announcement I was to join her in her office. This would be the school principal--feared by all--she put up with absolutely no nonsense, unlike some of the other nuns whom we could gently terrorize.

As I sat there in her office, she not only thoroughly ripped me for being uninterested in literature, but also denounced the book--claiming it to be a source of impure thoughts (a huge issue of mine at confession) and lewd text. I did, however, score one small victory---with the most innocent of looks, I casually mentioned the fact that this book was gotten right off our oh-so-pure-and-holy library shelves! She became even more incensed at that, but looking in the back of the book, found the school stamp, and could not argue with me.

I served the two weeks of detention without complaint.