We had a little bit of a reprieve from the heat today as it was cloudy and a bit rainy. I took Maggie to the doctor to have her hearing tested. I was surprised to learn they were open on Saturdays. Now we just have to have her teeth checked at the dentist, and she’ll be ready for school registration.

I couldn’t sleep last night. My sleeping schedule always gets messed up during the summer. I am, I suppose, naturally predisposed toward being a night person, but it doesn’t make me feel good about myself. It makes me feel lazy. Logically, I don’t know why it should, as I get the same stuff done on the night shift as I do through the school year (work aside, which can’t be helped as school is out). Maybe it is something in my old Southern farmer blood that insists one must be up with the chickens in order to be a productive member of society. I think it makes me feel kind of blue to be on this schedule. It is sort of a matter of my mind fighting a losing battle with my body.

In the mail today I received my two complimentary author’s copies of English Journal, July 2006 in which my article appears on p. 33. It’s very exciting for me to be published in what is possibly the most influential journal for English teachers. I have pullout quotes and a minibiography and everything!

I was thinking about my great-great grandmother, Stella Bowling Cunningham, again. I don’t know why I am so curious about her in particular among all of my ancestors. Maybe because she was a teacher. But I have had other teachers in the family who don’t pique my interest. I think it might be the journal. I have a photocopy of a journal she kept in 1894-1895. In it, she records mostly minutiae, such as what she purchased that day and how much it cost, who came to visit and what they did, and that sort of thing. Yet mingled in there are significant events, such as her wedding and the death of her grandmother. It’s incredible to be able to read it. I find the smallest detail fascinating. I have struggled with the “who cares” factor with this blog. It isn’t that it bothers me that I don’t have many readers. Some days, I just find myself saying why bother to post that? The fact is, this is my journal. The difference between mine and Stella’s is that I know people look at it, so I have this “audience” hurdle to get over that Stella didn’t. However, Stella could little have realized how special and important someone — perhaps her great-great granddaughter — would find her journal. So from here on in, I hope to post more often, but I can’t promise that it won’t be about what I bought and how much it cost or who came over and what they did.