I Was Never Really Excited about Moving to Kentucky

If I am perfectly honest, I'll have to admit that I was not at all excited about moving to Kentucky.  In fact, when my husband first told me he would like to apply to the Ph.D. program at the University of Kentucky, I just couldn't understand.  Why Kentucky?  He wanted to study at the university where Wendell Berry and Guy Davanport once taught, and he thought UK had an excellent English Program.

So, 9 1/2 years ago we uprooted our little family and moved to Kentucky for my husband to pursue doctoral work at the University of Kentucky.  We had a 2 week old baby boy and another son who was 2 1/2 years old.  Four weeks from the date of our move I started teaching at a high school in Lexington, and a week later my husband started his course work.

July 2003

You know what? I like it okay here in Kentucky, and now it’s difficult to imagine leaving. I’ve made a place for myself here, met amazing friends and colleagues, established myself in a career in education, earned National Board Certification for Teaching, volunteered for various projects in my sons’ schools and in the literary community, traveled all around the state and throughout the country, and have been raising our boys in one of the friendliest places I know. (Having lived in 9 different states in my life, I know plenty of places)

As of today—January 23rd, 2013—Our sole purpose for moving to Kentucky has been fulfilled. Chris successfully defended his dissertation this afternoon. Right now, I’m not really sure what comes next for our family, but it’s a gratifying feeling to know we finished (My husband finished) what we moved to Kentucky to complete.

Lexington, KY fall 2012

Lexington, KY fall 2012

Update August 2014: So far, we're still staying in Lexington. Read here to learn more.

Update August 2015: We're still here & our oldest son who was 2 1/2 when we moved here started high school.

Poem in Your Pocket Day: Ode to a Book II

For the past several weeks I have been asking friends, family, and colleagues what poem they plan to carry for Poem in Your Pocket Day.  While poetry is desirable to me all year long, it’s lovely to have one month a year where we see an extra emphasis on poetry.  Adding to the pleasure is a day of carrying and sharing poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Today I am carrying Ode to the Book II by Pablo Neruda.  I selected this poem because I really love Neruda’s poems, and I’m ruminating on a summer when my husband and I enjoyed reading Neruda’s poems together and drinking fine beverages from Chile.  Since neither of us read Spanish, we were careful to select translations we thought would be reliable and settled on The Essential Neruda:  Selected Poems edited by Mark Eisner.  A City Lights Books publication, the selection includes the poems written in Spanish on one side of the page and in English on the other side.

Our Neruda reading summer bled into the fall when we returned to school, and I found myself sharing Neruda’s poems with my students.  Because a large number of my students were bilingual, I enjoyed listening to them read Neruda’s poems in Spanish and then in English prior to our vibrant text-based class discussions.  This classroom memory obviously stayed with one student because she spent last semester (her senior year of college) in Chile studying through an exchange program at the University of Kentucky.  She posted a picture of Neruda’s home on facebook and considerately tagged me in the post; she actually thought of her former high school English teacher while she was in Chile!

Tomorrow I plan to share poem titles and thoughts on Poem in Your Pocket Day 2012, so if you are reading and carrying a poem today, please tell me, so I can add you to my list of people who shared their pocket poems with me.