100% pure asbestos. Great reason to want to get past that field!

Even scarier, wasn't the snow on all the poppies asbestos?

I think all of your transparency on this has been wonderful and heartening to get a peek behind the curtain at the Wizard.

Math class stress? Hey now, that's MY job!

Why do I get the feeling you had no problem whatsoever being ready for honors?

The turnaround in the California education system is a wonder, and as a teacher, it always makes me smile when someone remembers a teacher that made them really love something. I'm so glad you had that experience. Maybe I would've started taking my literary inklings more seriously earlier if I had.

I think we were far too focused on diction and theme (and killing my love of reading) to discuss something like that. No wonder you loved English enough to make a career of it!

I'm trying! It's difficult when you know it's supposed to be something really good, and you know you haven't found the magic in it yet. Makes me feel like my mind is defective because I can't see it.

I hope so. I've learned over the years to keep going for a bit longer, and it usually will. The brutal ones are when it doesn't pay off for me in the end and I've slogged through something that didn't get better.

But if you've read it, how long did it take you to get into this? It's compared to Proust, which was hard to get into but is now among my top five favorite novels. Am I doing something wrong? It should be more captivating. This is my wheelhouse.

3/3 #💙📚 #booksky

Maybe it's something in the translation from German that makes it less engaging to me. I had trouble recently with Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. And yet, as it's the only book I took with me on my current trip, I will keep reading and hope it takes a turn for the better.

2/3 #💙📚 #booksky

Is the counting the o's as champagne bubbles a real thing? If so, you had a MUCH better English teacher than I did.

Not to mention that NYC taxes (income, sales, congestion pricing) absolutely affect a large number of Jersey residents! You'd be crazy to not care.

I'm a nerd, so I'm still willing to snail mail you mine if you haven't read it yet, just to feel like a part of publishing's very long history.

Absolutely! It seems like the network fractured between Threads and Bluesky, so I'm grateful to have been able to maintain my best mutuals, like you.

I also wanted to add a heartfelt thank you, @jsinsheim.bsky.social. You're always accessible and super friendly as you answer my million questions, and you don't even rep me!