Valentine's Day

As usual, I'm not quite up to speed for Valentine's Day. Nick went to a cooking class (!) Saturday, and decided to make the peanut butter brownies for his class, so he did not do the laborious one-valentine-for-each-child dance. (Score!) I have a little something for the family later, but it's still a secret. And I teach until dinner time, anyway.

Still, we'll talk about (bad) marriages in Dickens in my Victorian literature class, and we've got intriguing family dynamics in the writing class readings for this week as well, so that'll be fun.

And if Valentine's Day is really all about sharing the love, here are two opportunities:

One, the Camel Bookmobile: check it out! This is a project sponsored by the fabulous Masha Hamilton--her novel of the same title comes out later this spring. This is a great project to bring books, as Masha says, "traveling through the remote desert on the arched backs of camels, like notes from another world sealed in a bottle and tossed into a sea." Share some.

Two, Save Darfur. I know, you've heard about it on the news or read it in the papers, and it seems too big, too intractable a problem. Last Sunday, though, I heard the Rev. Lauren Stanley, Episcopal missionary to the Sudan (currently unable to serve there due to the violence) speak about her adopted country and people. And she says signing the petition really can make a difference, that the Sudan really can be helped by American support and American prayers. So sign the petition, send it to some more folks, and spread the love. It's a start.