A Blackbird is a What?

I had a revelation this evening. You could even call it an epiphany. Sam and I had gone to Barnes and Noble and were in various sections reading different parts of books as we went. At one point I found myself in front of some "classics." Lately I've been thinking that I really should read more "classics" and become more "well read." (It sounded good to me and if these books have hung around this long I figured they have to be good stories right? I was wondering, why I haven't read them by now because I am sure they are gripping!?) I think the whole thing started after I watched the movie "The Great Debaters" about a debate team from Wiley College back in 1935. Those folks were truly educated. They read great books and could quote them and were just all around smart. I think I was thinking it would broaden my understanding of life and give me new insights into the world as we know it. Or something like that anyway. So, at Barnes and Noble, I picked up a book and started on the first chapter (note: I cannot remember what book it was just a few hours later, so you know that can't be good). Not more than two sentences in I realized that this books was a bit wordy and "old English-y" and I most certainly didn't understand a word. So I put it back. I noticed another "classic" collection of Emily Dickinson's poems and thought--ooooh, poetry! Perfect. I read the first 3 stanzas (good staying power, don't you think?) and realized that I had no idea what she was talking about. So, that's when I had the epiphany. I am just not deep enough for "classics." I would be happy seeing a movie based on The Odyssey and I'd really like to have Emily's poems translated into modern English. And I am never going to have a conversation with anyone that graduated from Wiley College in 1935 where I would need to be able to recite a Langston Hughes poem. And while I am certain that Chaucer's Tales are fascinating, they are just not in a language that I understand. And really, I don't want to if I'm being honest. As I recall in school when we had to read Chaucer our teacher had to fill in a lot of blanks regarding what words really meant. Me? I like to use words that mean exactly what they mean. I'm not going to use the word blackbird to mean a soldier or whatever kind of substitutions those crazy classic authors did. If I'm talking about a blackbird it is because for some strange reason I have recently seen one and felt the need to talk about it.

So, if you want to talk about the winner of American Idol, or a lovely fictional story (in modern English ifyouplease), or even what you had for dinner tonight, I'm your girl. But if you want to discuss Shakespeare and what the deeper meaning of Hamlet's thoughts were, you need to look elsewhere. Unless of course I've seen the movie.