May 2008 Archives

George Eliot is far superior to Jane Austen at writing climax and denouement. The ending of Middlemarch is one of the best I've read...ever.

The characters' 19th century British circumstances don't resonate with me, but their psychological dispositions do. I especially like the Rector at the end talking sense to Sir James, who opposes Dorothea's marriage to poor Ladislaw: "Like many men who take life easily, he had the knack of saying a home truth occasionally to those who felt themselves virtuously out of temper."

Clouds overhead, humid breeze nudging us along, a fleet of Dorchester bikers entered Boston this morning for national Bike to Work Day. We kept an easy pace, but the ride was mostly flat, so the commute took only half an hour. Down Dorchester Ave, through the blight of the harbor warehouses, into Downtown Crossing where the early rising financial district stared in approving delight. Then welcomed at government center where groups like MassBike and Hub on Wheels handed out free schwag. Pastries, fruit, Peet's coffee aplenty. I sped back to Dorchester with Amy, satisfied and with plenty of time to make Friday volunteering. I would like to do that again.

No more looming papers, tests, group projects, classes. No more THESIS on the horizon! And I can't properly express my elation at this prospect of freedom after handing in my last paper EVER! It was poorly written, of course, but who can blame me?

I have enjoyed my time at B.U. The summer in London was what originally attracted me, and that proved absolutely worthwhile. I've been under the tutelage of experts and feel privileged.

But I am now a master (mistress) and don't plan on ever returning to school.

Now back to reading Middlemarch.