"Nobody grows up and thinks, I'm going to live in Detroit," one of my students said last night, mystified as to how I got here and why I stayed. But I always kind of knew that I would end up in the north, the rustbelt, the midwest, what people on the coasts refer to as the flyover states. I often thought I might live in Gary, Indiana or Milwaukee -- my crystal ball wasn't entirely polished and clear in those early days. If there were a few other industrial hellholes that nobody wanted to live in, I'd add those to the list as well. Even as a child, I liked things other people didn't. How can you like that? my mother would often say, shaking her head at whatever new thing had captured my imagination.
Sometimes I make my classes write about things they wanted and got, only to find out they didn't want them anymore. But this is not true for me -- it's never too late as evidenced by my new Disco Snoopy. Yes readers, I, Michelle Brooks, have Disco Snoopy. I told one of my classes a few semesters ago that I had wanted one as a child and never got him. And a few nights ago, a sweet student of mine brought me one of the little guys, Snoopy with a teeny-tiny disco cape, doing the iconic John Travolta move. "It was hard to find him," she told me. But she did find him and he is now mine! It was my dream to have him many years ago, and they didn't make very many as he wasn't a big seller. But I loved him so he found his way to me. Like Detroit, Disco Snoopy isn't for everyone, but sometimes if you love something enough, it will find its way to you.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"The things that we love tell us what we are." Saint Thomas Aquinas
Cocktail Hour
Drinking movie suggestion: The Savages
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Thursday!
9 comments:
Great smile:)
This story reminds me of my move to Louisiana. I gave away many prized breakables that would never survive the trip. I was delighted to find most of them at 2nd hand stores down here. As they say, "If you love something, set it free..."
I have always said that I can't wait to move out of Michigan. Not for somewhere glamorous, just somewhere warmer. I could live out in the boonies but as long as it's warm I'll be happy.
Aquariums are soothing.
G'day from Australia,
(I came here from Charles Gramlich's blog)
Nobody could ever go wrong with Disco Snoopy. Good on you!!
I'm still laughing over "Disco Snoopy." This image is going to be branded in my head the rest of the day.
*Waves at Lana*
I followed David's tracks from Australia.
I can understanding why you were attracted to Detroit or other places like that. After having read Michael Dirda's autobiographical "An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland", I happened to travel to Chicago from Washington DC, and decided to visit Dirda's hometowm of Lorian, Ohio, on my way there. I walked the streets of the town, with homes and frontyards that made me feel as if set back a few decades, to better times. I toured some of the industrial behemoths by the lake, and found it all fascinating. Those rusting survivors of a better time seemed to be standing still looking at them from afar, but they were still working, albeit in reduced capacity, smoke billowing from their chimneys, and upon coming closer, noises emerging from their big bellies. It felt all quite comforting.
Your welcome, it was the least I could do for my favorite teacher. Wihtout you i woudl have never taken up writing!
Your welcome, it was the least I could do for my favorite teacher. Wihtout you i would have never taken up writing!
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