Montag

After Christmas, I assigned my class the book “Fahrenheit 451.” I read the book years ago, but have forgotten much of it. The book follows the life of a firefighter, Guy Montag, yet in the future, when this book takes place, firefighters are commissioned to destroy books. Ray Bradbury takes a stand against censorship and the reduction of literature to mush. In Montag’s world, books now longer exist. Through censorship and editing, books have been reduced summaries and eventually to nothing. People stopped reading and this made it easy for the government to ban books altogether. Entertainment is mindless and thoughtless. Television screens light up entire walls, living rooms have televisions on all four walls; people walk around with tiny radios in their ears. All information is plugged straight into their ears. There is no time to think, to write or read.

Since Japan, we have been busy, but mostly distracted. It has been a run here, and do that existence. The Honey-do list was long after a year away. I had one month to get things turned around and figured out before school started. Chrissy returned to work right away.

In August, I had sprinklers and a lawn to install, and a thirty-foot long flower garden to build along our house. Last winter, the thaw pushed water down along our foundation and up through the electrical conduit into our house. I had to move long-standing mountains of dirt to level the yard and force future runoff in another direction.

Chrissy focused on the final organization of our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary that we celebrated over Labor Day. We had rented the Palouse Divide Lodge, off highway 6 in Idaho. It was great to see all of our family and friends who were able to come and celebrate.

The day before school, I found out that I had two new classes to teach, classes that I had not taught for years. My plans, my experience for the other classes, that I had taught for the past nine years were for not. The change of plans put increasing demands on my time.

September and October whiled away with me continuing to level the land. I also focused on finishing the upstairs. We had to finish the bamboo floor and sheetrock the walls. Chrissy planned another party for Halloween and the upstairs had to be finished. In the effort I broke my finger moving the ladder making November an easy month to reduce my physical workload.

Thanksgiving took us to Seattle to see Whittney and many of our old high school friends. It was nice to walk the streets of Seattle with Whittney and her dog Lou, seeing how she has carved a little life of her own in the months she has been there.

December brought the snows and winds that would pile snow across our road. I spent several days, entire days plowing the snow out of our drive so we could get to town and work. December also brought Jessica and Whittney home. I made two trips to Seattle in December, one to pick up the girls and another to take them back.

Finally it is 2009. January is already over halfway gone. The snow has melted in the January thaw, teasing us that winter is over. It will return, though. We all know that. The first day back from break, I broke out the book; “Fahrenheit 451” and we began reading that day. I began rereading it; looking at different articles that help the students understand it better. It isn’t the first book that I have read since returning from Japan. Chrissy bought me a couple, “Into the Wild” and “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.” The latter I have yet to finish, the former I read quickly having read a review of it last year.

I have discovered that I live in a different world. I used to be able to read and think. It took me a year away from this world to realize it. I discovered that I don’t like this world I live in, this world of Guy Montag. There are too many things that fly past my face, TV shows light up the wall of our living room. There is little time to sit and read or write. That is one part I miss about the world I came from last year.