Karen, you are awesome! I am so sorry about your having to leave your teaching position. I grieve for the students who will miss your excellent teaching. But I also appreciate your faith that God is doing a new thing. Thank you for sharing on this platform. You are loved with an Everlasting love, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms.
So grateful you are here! I have always wished I could be one of your students, but thoroughly enjoyed and gleaned much from you online for many years! As a former teacher (before business owner) I relate to the joy of returning to school and how strange it was when that shifted. I pray God fills your heart and future with satisfying work, ministry and much peace as you continue to heal! Keep writing my friend! The world needs more KSP! ❤️
Karen, I am grateful that you are here. What a generous offering of your gift, truly. Thank you. As a late returner to my education, I’m looking forward to learning now what I didn’t learn then ❤️
In two days, I am officiating the funeral of a man who died from brain cancer at 40, leaving behind a wife and three young boys. His diagnosis a year and a half ago stunned our congregation and bullied me into being a student of the theology of suffering. Just before he died last Thursday morning, he said he was tired of fighting and wanted “to go home.” By now, of course, he has full context and a complete understanding in the presence of Jesus. He has been my teacher.
When I think of your life over the years I have known you, I remember the questions that accompanied your accident and the hard-earned wisdom you gained through God’s sustaining grace. Your writing reflects it, as does your life, and many are blessed. In these latter days, when the inflicted pain has been through the blows of horrific human behavior (you no doubt prefer the bus), I’m sure you, like then, would chose to avoid the imposed journey but take heart, my dear friend. God is perfecting His beauty in you that only eternity will fully reveal. I see much of it now.
I’m so sorry about the death of your friend, Rick. His life ended beautifully, it seems, although much too soon for those who love him and will miss him so. The only thing I know about suffering is that we cannot avoid it. All we can do is try to bear it well. Thank you for bearing witness to that in so many ways.
I'm praying for you as you continue to bump against painful reminders of injuries done to you. The description of the pelican legend comes to mind as you feed us out of the wounds you have endured. https://thepelicanproject.com/about/
I'm very much looking forward to the lessons from Beowulf.
This part in Yeats's poem struck me hard:
Both nuns and mothers worship images,
But those the candles light are not as those
That animate a mother's reveries,
But keep a marble or a bronze repose.
As a mother who has idealized my children and my "role," I have had to learn the hard way that this is not how reality plays out. And it's a lesson I needed to learn. Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" reminded me not long ago that it is better to live the beautiful truth of real life than envy the "Cold Pastoral" graven images that seem perfect but have no life.
Wow, Carmon. That is a deep and vulnerable connection to offer. Thank you for doing so. Yeats gets at so much in this poem. This adds another proof of his genius and insight.
Thank you, Dr. Prior, for offering to teach us Beowulf! This structure sounds deeply exciting to me. 😃 I am passionate about literature, but very much a layman in these things: to have a bona fide academic introduce and analyse great poetry is such a blessing to me, especially because I don't have the time and resources to be in a classroom myself!
Karen - Yes, I see the pain in your eyes in the pictures and I hear the pain in your words. I ask God to bless you in the midst of your pain, and cause it to bear abundant fruit to his glory.
Perhaps you see the seed of that fruit planted in the comments you read here? It sounds to me like there is great anticipation for your teaching on Beowulf. Huzzah! Grendel (in all his forms) will get his comeuppance once again. 🍎
I do indeed see the seed of that fruit in this little community--as young as it yet is. I’m encouraged and grateful. And daunted, too! This is going to be quite the experiment! I pray God blesses it and uses it to bless others.
Confession: all the back-to-school posts and the happy announcements of promotions and new appointments of my academic friends are making this harder again. I rejoice with all of them. But feel afresh the pain if not being in the classroom. Thank you for letting me be raw and vulnerable here, friends. It helps.
Karen, I said a prayer for you after I read this, that you would be comforted and experience joy and a sense of purpose as you are in this period of respite and transition into the new thing the Lord has planned for you. I had a pretty poor literature education growing up and would enjoy learning from you here. I will try not to be intimidated by Beowulf!!
As a literature major who pivoted into adult ESL, I'm always looking for more ways to engage more with literature (my first love). My most recent reading of Beowulf from the translation by Frederick Rebsamen was so engaging. This may sound odd, but his translation has almost a hip-hop or "Hamilton"-esque quality to it, which kept me moving through an otherwise heavy text. I look forward to reading again along with the community here.
Oh, wow! I hope you will bring all those insights I to this conversation. I had not heard of that translation, so I will need to check it out. Thank you!
Oh, this is going to be fun! And, once again, thank you so much for sharing with us!
What I liked most about teaching literature to my three kids, as well as in our homeschool co-op, was the reflection that came through study of these works, plus the opportunity to introduce my students to this kind of soul-widening as well.
After my kids graduated, I missed this!
Occasionally, I fantasized about teaching literature in a Christian school, or offering a book study at church, but none of these things have (yet) happened. So I’m in a bit of a dry spell.
But it’s okay. God has given me other pursuits, some of which have been quite (delightedly) surprising!
He’s also given me a couple that have been surprising in the other direction, in a very unpleasant way. But, these too have yielded growth and blessing.
So, I have no doubt that God still has wonderful purpose for you, Karen! I can’t wait to see how the journey unfolds, and to participate in a small way!
I’ve admired you from afar for many years, wishing I could join more in the kinds of conversations I’ve seen you have in the public sphere, and wishing I had your deep knowledge (rather than shallower knowledge spread across many disciplines). But I am who I am, and do what I can with my gifts and my limitations, and am getting better at waiting on the Lord!
When I graduated my last child, which also coincided with the pandemic, I faced a huge life change and a lot of loss. After 25 years of raising and homeschooling my kids, they were leaving the nest. Several projects in which I was invested suddenly were canceled (when the world shut down). But, I embraced the chance to rest and recover. And as my hand found other things to do, I did them with all my might. And am still! Life goes on, and God remains good!
Thank you for sharing some of your journey here. It encourages me! You will have much to contribute to this little community. I can’t wait to see it. Thank you for the kind words, too. Who knows what God has in mind for this turn in the ahead and what lies ahead! I’m more and more eager to see it.
When I left my job as a high school English teacher, I went straight into working for a ministry while finishing grad school. I finished my degree, and now I, too, face my first year outside of some form of the classroom. I feel a little free? Maybe to quietly learn what God presents? I also feel very lost. I wonder if I will become a different person. I joke that my toddler stole my mind :) All that to say, I understand how you are feeling in some ways. It is often disorienting when the Lord leads to unfamiliar paths. I'm very much looking forward to exploring literary works here! Look at the Lord providing a classroom once again :)
How many times have I told you I wish I could sit in your classes? So YAY!
About a million years ago, I took an English Lit class at the U of So Fl when we lived in Tampa. I think I got out of it with a B, but I can't find my transcript. Anyway, all I really remember is my paper on Beowulf--and that I wrote about him as a Christ figure, and the instructor scribbled across my paper that I was stretching things a little far. :-(
Oh, Sandra! I so hope this journey will bless us all! I feel daunted. It will be impossible to replicate all I do in the classroom here. But if the Lord blesses it, if we enjoy it together, who knows? 🙏
Karen, you are awesome! I am so sorry about your having to leave your teaching position. I grieve for the students who will miss your excellent teaching. But I also appreciate your faith that God is doing a new thing. Thank you for sharing on this platform. You are loved with an Everlasting love, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms.
Thank you for this kind (and true) reminder. I am the Lord’s! And all this is his, too, including my gifts.
So grateful you are here! I have always wished I could be one of your students, but thoroughly enjoyed and gleaned much from you online for many years! As a former teacher (before business owner) I relate to the joy of returning to school and how strange it was when that shifted. I pray God fills your heart and future with satisfying work, ministry and much peace as you continue to heal! Keep writing my friend! The world needs more KSP! ❤️
Thank you, Kathleen! So grateful for your presence and friendship in my life!
Karen, I am grateful that you are here. What a generous offering of your gift, truly. Thank you. As a late returner to my education, I’m looking forward to learning now what I didn’t learn then ❤️
Grateful to be able to learn and grow together. This will be quite the experiment. 🙏
In two days, I am officiating the funeral of a man who died from brain cancer at 40, leaving behind a wife and three young boys. His diagnosis a year and a half ago stunned our congregation and bullied me into being a student of the theology of suffering. Just before he died last Thursday morning, he said he was tired of fighting and wanted “to go home.” By now, of course, he has full context and a complete understanding in the presence of Jesus. He has been my teacher.
When I think of your life over the years I have known you, I remember the questions that accompanied your accident and the hard-earned wisdom you gained through God’s sustaining grace. Your writing reflects it, as does your life, and many are blessed. In these latter days, when the inflicted pain has been through the blows of horrific human behavior (you no doubt prefer the bus), I’m sure you, like then, would chose to avoid the imposed journey but take heart, my dear friend. God is perfecting His beauty in you that only eternity will fully reveal. I see much of it now.
I’m so sorry about the death of your friend, Rick. His life ended beautifully, it seems, although much too soon for those who love him and will miss him so. The only thing I know about suffering is that we cannot avoid it. All we can do is try to bear it well. Thank you for bearing witness to that in so many ways.
I'm praying for you as you continue to bump against painful reminders of injuries done to you. The description of the pelican legend comes to mind as you feed us out of the wounds you have endured. https://thepelicanproject.com/about/
I'm very much looking forward to the lessons from Beowulf.
This part in Yeats's poem struck me hard:
Both nuns and mothers worship images,
But those the candles light are not as those
That animate a mother's reveries,
But keep a marble or a bronze repose.
As a mother who has idealized my children and my "role," I have had to learn the hard way that this is not how reality plays out. And it's a lesson I needed to learn. Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" reminded me not long ago that it is better to live the beautiful truth of real life than envy the "Cold Pastoral" graven images that seem perfect but have no life.
Wow, Carmon. That is a deep and vulnerable connection to offer. Thank you for doing so. Yeats gets at so much in this poem. This adds another proof of his genius and insight.
Thank you, Dr. Prior, for offering to teach us Beowulf! This structure sounds deeply exciting to me. 😃 I am passionate about literature, but very much a layman in these things: to have a bona fide academic introduce and analyse great poetry is such a blessing to me, especially because I don't have the time and resources to be in a classroom myself!
I truly hope you find this experiment edifying, illuminating, and fun! Thanks for joining in! 😀
Yes a million times over to some literary exploration! I love Beowulf and, especially, Heaney's translation. Cannot wait!
🙌
Karen - Yes, I see the pain in your eyes in the pictures and I hear the pain in your words. I ask God to bless you in the midst of your pain, and cause it to bear abundant fruit to his glory.
Perhaps you see the seed of that fruit planted in the comments you read here? It sounds to me like there is great anticipation for your teaching on Beowulf. Huzzah! Grendel (in all his forms) will get his comeuppance once again. 🍎
I do indeed see the seed of that fruit in this little community--as young as it yet is. I’m encouraged and grateful. And daunted, too! This is going to be quite the experiment! I pray God blesses it and uses it to bless others.
Confession: all the back-to-school posts and the happy announcements of promotions and new appointments of my academic friends are making this harder again. I rejoice with all of them. But feel afresh the pain if not being in the classroom. Thank you for letting me be raw and vulnerable here, friends. It helps.
Karen, I said a prayer for you after I read this, that you would be comforted and experience joy and a sense of purpose as you are in this period of respite and transition into the new thing the Lord has planned for you. I had a pretty poor literature education growing up and would enjoy learning from you here. I will try not to be intimidated by Beowulf!!
Thank you, Shel. The Lord is kind. Kinder to me than I am to myself. I hope you enjoy Beowulf!
As a literature major who pivoted into adult ESL, I'm always looking for more ways to engage more with literature (my first love). My most recent reading of Beowulf from the translation by Frederick Rebsamen was so engaging. This may sound odd, but his translation has almost a hip-hop or "Hamilton"-esque quality to it, which kept me moving through an otherwise heavy text. I look forward to reading again along with the community here.
Oh, wow! I hope you will bring all those insights I to this conversation. I had not heard of that translation, so I will need to check it out. Thank you!
Oh, this is going to be fun! And, once again, thank you so much for sharing with us!
What I liked most about teaching literature to my three kids, as well as in our homeschool co-op, was the reflection that came through study of these works, plus the opportunity to introduce my students to this kind of soul-widening as well.
After my kids graduated, I missed this!
Occasionally, I fantasized about teaching literature in a Christian school, or offering a book study at church, but none of these things have (yet) happened. So I’m in a bit of a dry spell.
But it’s okay. God has given me other pursuits, some of which have been quite (delightedly) surprising!
He’s also given me a couple that have been surprising in the other direction, in a very unpleasant way. But, these too have yielded growth and blessing.
So, I have no doubt that God still has wonderful purpose for you, Karen! I can’t wait to see how the journey unfolds, and to participate in a small way!
I’ve admired you from afar for many years, wishing I could join more in the kinds of conversations I’ve seen you have in the public sphere, and wishing I had your deep knowledge (rather than shallower knowledge spread across many disciplines). But I am who I am, and do what I can with my gifts and my limitations, and am getting better at waiting on the Lord!
When I graduated my last child, which also coincided with the pandemic, I faced a huge life change and a lot of loss. After 25 years of raising and homeschooling my kids, they were leaving the nest. Several projects in which I was invested suddenly were canceled (when the world shut down). But, I embraced the chance to rest and recover. And as my hand found other things to do, I did them with all my might. And am still! Life goes on, and God remains good!
Oh, and 60 is not really so old! :-D
Thank you for sharing some of your journey here. It encourages me! You will have much to contribute to this little community. I can’t wait to see it. Thank you for the kind words, too. Who knows what God has in mind for this turn in the ahead and what lies ahead! I’m more and more eager to see it.
When I left my job as a high school English teacher, I went straight into working for a ministry while finishing grad school. I finished my degree, and now I, too, face my first year outside of some form of the classroom. I feel a little free? Maybe to quietly learn what God presents? I also feel very lost. I wonder if I will become a different person. I joke that my toddler stole my mind :) All that to say, I understand how you are feeling in some ways. It is often disorienting when the Lord leads to unfamiliar paths. I'm very much looking forward to exploring literary works here! Look at the Lord providing a classroom once again :)
Isn’t the Lord amazing? I am glad I can trust him more than myself. And I trust myself quite a bit, haha!
How many times have I told you I wish I could sit in your classes? So YAY!
About a million years ago, I took an English Lit class at the U of So Fl when we lived in Tampa. I think I got out of it with a B, but I can't find my transcript. Anyway, all I really remember is my paper on Beowulf--and that I wrote about him as a Christ figure, and the instructor scribbled across my paper that I was stretching things a little far. :-(
Also, I totally love your sweet school photo.
Oh, Sandra! I so hope this journey will bless us all! I feel daunted. It will be impossible to replicate all I do in the classroom here. But if the Lord blesses it, if we enjoy it together, who knows? 🙏
Maybe you’re not meant to *replicate* it. Maybe it will morph into something unique and marvelous in its own way. ❤️ I’m excited.
Love this idea so much!
Yay! Pray it goes well. I’m nervous now! 😅
I love the poem, though I need to ruminate on in a bit.
But is it crazy that I got so much pleasure from his use of the word “blent” in the second stanza?
Yeats is a hard poet to comprehend fully. But the mark of a good poet is that even the use of a single word can be so evocative!