This year, J and I have gone through a lot of setbacks that I won’t bother to list. We all go through such times, I know. One disappointment for me was applying for a teaching job at a local college where I had been working as a writing center tutor. They basically told me, “No teaching experience, no way,” and I gave up. However, J encouraged me to give it one more go.

So it was that I called another area college* just to see if they had anything available that could give me teaching experience. I left a voice mail that sounded something like, “I was wondering if you had any teaching jobs open or even just a chance to TA and gain some experience.” A day later, to my surprise, I got a phone call from the school informing me of an opening for teaching freshman composition and how to apply. Fast forward two weeks and two interviews, and I have my very first class teaching English composition!

Classes start Monday, and I have a lot of preparatory work to do, including arranging a syllabus and laying out assignments. I got the books we’re using today and look forward to perusing them. I ran errands all over the place today to get myself integrated into the system over there, locate my office, figure out where my classroom is (my classroom!), and turn in all of the perfunctory paperwork. I feel like I’m being tossed into the deep end, sure, but I know how to swim. And it has been a very hot day.

I want to thank everyone who wished me well and/or prayed for me this year as the wife and I continue to stumble our way through this crazy existence. I am definitely blessed to have this opportunity, and though it will be challenging, I’m excited to get started. I know I’m going to grow a lot this semester, and I hope I can help my students grow, too. This small success is all the sweeter because I’ve had to go through some hard stuff to get here. Hmm, maybe I should learn a lesson here…

*I withhold the name of the school for privacy reasons, just in case. However, it wouldn’t take much detective work to figure it out if you really want to.

Somewhere around Lincoln, NE, my lovely wife and I finished “reading” (listening to) Elizabeth Gilbert’s renowned memoir Eat, Pray, Love. We had been enjoying it through our two recent trips back to the Midwest; there’s nothing like listening to a good book while you drive to kill time. Gilbert possesses an obvious talent at writing, and her journey (literal and figurative) is usually quite engaging. Indeed, the book has given me a lot to ruminate upon, especially spiritually. Thus, I was fully expecting to be wowed by the finish, but instead both J and I were disappointed. There is so much that is valuable in these pages (or CDs), but Gilbert leaves me to wonder what might have been. How do you evaluate a book that is wonderful 80% of the time but ends poorly?

So close to being amazing

If you’re unfamiliar with Eat, Pray, Love (EPL), let me catch you up. The book chronicles Gilbert’s yearlong journey from Italy to India to Indonesia (Bali) as she tries to figure out who she is and what to do with her life. She’s just come through a terrible divorce and a failed romance (different guys), and she needs to get a handle on herself. She decides to visit three different places that would help her work on specific characteristics of her life. She chooses Italy for its pleasure (especially culinary), India for its devotion, and Indonesia to find balance in her life.

One way to think about this book is to separate its different aspects and evaluate them individually. I think Gilbert would be on board with this idea because she clearly loves overt structure. The book is one third travel writing, one third spiritual odyssey, and one third autobiography.

It should come as no surprise to those who know me that the travel element of the book is my favorite. I haven’t traveled much, and I love hearing about all these different places she visits. However, my reasons for choosing the travel writing aspect of the book as my favorite extend beyond my desire to see the world; Gilbert is an extremely gifted travel author. She is skilled at making places come alive and uses imagery and description effectively and wonderfully. Listening to the book turned out to be a visual experience as well as an auditory one.

The second best facet of EPL in my view was her spiritual journey. As a Christian, it was constantly fascinating to see how Gilbert goes about her search for God, where she finds Him, and where she doesn’t. Gilbert’s faith exists outside of all the standard world religions, but she focuses mostly on Asian practices, especially meditation, to get where she’s going. She has a lot of prophetic dreams, and those were compelling. She definitely causes me to re-evaluate much of my assumptions regarding other belief systems; that needed to happen. However, Gilbert never really gets to her desired destination, i.e. close to God. She has amazing visions, yes, and who am I to say they aren’t real? Still, she seeks God on her own terms in her own ways, and that goes only so far. Also, she is surrounded on this journey by those who ceaselessly tell her the classic religious lie, “All religions are basically the same. They’re just different paths to the same end.” No. I think Gilbert proves my point by how her book ends.

The least interesting aspect of the book, for me, was the author’s personal life. Yes, it is a memoir, so I expected a good dose of Gilbert’s life to be in these pages. However, she comes off as self-obsessed after a while. I grew tired of her whining about how awful her divorce was (that would be the divorce she asked for) and how torn up she is that “David” and she can’t get along. As her travels progress, she moves beyond these emotional issues only to pick up other ones down the line. I get the feeling that Elizabeth Gilbert is a messy person–one who can’t help but immerse herself in drama wherever she goes.

I’m making EPL out to be a terrible book, which it is not, so let me talk about some of its many laudable aspects. Let me reiterate that Gilbert is a gifted author; she is obviously made to write. Her prose is always evocative, descriptive, and arranged well. She knows what she’s doing. Listening to her perform her own book is also a joy. She brings out all of the various accents of the friends she makes on her trip, from the Italian English spoken by Giovanni, to the Southern drawl of Richard from Texas, to the broken English of Ketut Liyer in Bali. It is a good choice for a book to listen to.

Reading EPL is an entrancing experience. Gilbert is eager and able to transport you to the places she goes, make you feel how she feels, and craft her experiences such that they are meaningful to all that hear about them. There is a lot of light and wisdom in this book. I was constantly being shown how close-minded I can be regarding other people–a hateful characteristic, indeed. The author is right about a lot of things: make space for God in your life, pursue things that are meaningful, friends can be found anywhere, and a happiness requires hard work. I profited a lot from this read.

Okay, let’s talk about selfishness. Apparently, Gilbert gets accused of being selfish a lot as a consequence of writing this book. After all, she breaks off her marriage and then spends pages complaining about how much it hurts. She then sends herself on a round-the-world journey doing things she wants to do and staying at places she wants to be in order to learn about…herself. This issue must be raised a lot because the author responds to it on her website. She argues that going on her journey was valuable because by becoming a better person, she is now less of a burden on those around her: “Saving my own life (through therapy, medication, prayer and–most of all–travel) was something I did for my own benefit, yes, but I can’t help but think that it was ultimately also a little bit of community service.” I like this idea, but I’m not entirely persuaded.

Overall, this is a good read, and I guess I’d recommend it; I definitely won’t tell people not to read it. I asked J if she’d listen through it again, and she said at least the first two sections (Italy and India) are worthy of more time; I agree. I’m not certain that I’d put myself through the entirety of emotional experience of this book again, though. 3.5 stars. And I definitely plan to eat at Pizzeria da Michele.

For those who want to know what I disliked so much about the finish of EPL, read on (SPOILERS AHEAD):

J and I were privileged to have my siblings and their respective significant others at our house this last week. We did a lot of great stuff together, some of which I may blog about later, but I begin with the last thing we did: Justin’s and my ascent of Mt. Bierstadt. My brother had been talking about hiking of 14er almost since we began planning their trip out here. I admit I was leery at first. I worried I was not fit enough to attempt it, and I had no idea what sort of challenge it would be. I did some research and found a 14er that was purportedly one of the easiest to summit: 14,060-foot Mt. Bierstadt, which is about an hour and a half away from Denver. We planned to go with K’s new beau Joe (not to be confused with Beaujo’s pizza, which is delicious), but lack of sleep and other schedule conflicts pushed the hike to Monday–the morning he and K were flying out.

Justin and I got up early for two reasons: 1. It’s always smarter to hike in the morning due to unpredictable, inclement afternoon weather, and 2. We heard the road leading up to Guanella Pass (where the trailhead is) closes sporadically due to road construction. This rumor turned out to be true, contrary to any of the information found on the web. For those would-be hikers of the mountain, the road on the east side of the pass closes from 8-11am, and 1-3 pm as of July 6, 2009. You have been warned. We made both time windows, as it turned out, which was wonderful.

We got to the trailhead and started our hike right at 8:00 and summited at 10:10, which I still can’t believe. We hiked 3.5 miles up 2,850 feet in just over two hours. Whew! I’m not sure I recommend this pace. If you’re hiking anywhere, go at the pace that suits you; stop when you need to. My bro and I are in relatively good shape (he much more than I), and we have long legs. On the descent, we left the top at right around 11:00 and were at our car by 12:30. Yep, going down was much easier, though it was harder not to fall.

The trail itself is pretty decent. I heard two different accounts of people who got lost taking a phantom trail that goes right (south) away from the main trail. Justin and I saw no such path. There are a few miniature side trails, but it’s pretty easy to figure out what the main trail is. At first, the path descends gently until you cross a stream (there’s a small footbridge made of two logs), then it gets progressively rockier as you go up. Surprisingly, there is not an absurd amount of swichbacks, though there are many; the path goes straight up quite often (read: you quadraceps will hate you). Since we went in July, there wasn’t a lot of snow left, but we did cross a couple of snow fields. Toward the top, you climb over piles of boulders without any real trail to speak of. The final ascent is another rockpile. It was the hardest hike I’ve ever taken, but it was worth it. Picture time!

Looking southwest from Mt Bierstadt. I've never seen so many white-capped mountains in one place.

Now looking west. Those two peaks in the middle are Gray's and Torrey's, which are two other popular 14ers.

This is the view to the southeast. That flat expanse in the distance is South Park. A man we met on the top could identify the Collegiate Peaks beyond that.

Now we're looking north at Mt. Evans, which dominates the view of the front range from Denver. That lake a few thousand feet down is Summit Lake, I believe.

Hail the conquering heroes!

This is the US Geological Survey medallion at the summit.

The view down the mountain to Guanella Pass Road. Our parking lot is the cement blip up and to the left of the lake.

The penultimate boulder pile. As you can see, some people slid down through the snow rather than hike that bit again.

Justin nobly surveying the beautiful valley. We're pretty far down the mountain now.

Mt. Bierstadt from the parking lot. Yep, I stood on top of it.

If you’re thinking about hiking a 14er in Colorado and want one that’s doable, I definitely recommend Bierstadt. We didn’t need any gear to get to the top–just a jacket, water, some food, and determination. Hiking boots are also highly recommended; my treadless sneakers weren’t much help on the snow. There is a lot more information and larger pictures of the route and the surrounding area at 14ers.com.

One of the many interesting tidbits in Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat, Pray, Love occurs in the first section while she’s in Italy. She loves Rome, but can’t figure out why she feels she doesn’t belong there. One of her Italian friends tells her a theory of his. He says every city has a one-word motto that describes it; it’s the word that most of the citizens are thinking about at any given moment. Rome’s word, he says, is sex. Gilbert feels that this explains her out-of-place feeling because she is avoiding romantic encounters at the moment. Then she muses about what words fit other towns. New York is achieve, she says, and Los Angeles’ word is succeed.*

This got J and me thinking. What words would we use to describe towns we knew? I thought long and hard about Denver, and the word I came up with was activity because that’s what people here care about most. Denverites ski, golf, hike, ski, camp, raft, ski, play sports, go drinking and ski. One never hangs out with people in Denver; one always must do something (I hate this fact, by the way). I asked J what she thought Denver’s word was, and she said–completely independently of me, mind you–active. I think we nailed that one.

After that, we thought about Cedar Rapids, IA, where we grew up. This was much harder for me, and I couldn’t think of anything. J suggested work, which I initially objected to. However, she pointed out that in CR, everyone views work as a necessity. If you don’t have a job in CR, people wonder what you’re doing.** Cedar Rapidians go to work, they come home and work on their houses, and their hobbies require work. All of which has made the wonderful citizens of CR durable, dependable and pragmatic people. Pragmatic was the second word J suggested for CR.

I really like the idea that one can understand any given place if one knows the mot juste. Like all abstract, metaphorical and fun ideas along the lines of this one, I’m not sure how important or valuable the perfect word theory is, but it made me wonder what other people would say about their towns. If you feel like it, I’d love to hear what word you’d use for your hometown and why.

*I apologize that I couldn’t use quotes in this section, but I have Gilbert’s book on CD only.

**This may have changed with the recent economic recession.

Last Tuesday, J, Lucy and I got back to Denver after our first planned trip of the summer. We visited Cedar Rapids to throw a baby shower for our dear friend E, and we saw other friends and family as well. As always, it is a blessing to be back in our own home, but the trip was delightful, too.

We left Colorado last Wednesday night (6/10) after I got off of work and drove the seven hours to Lincoln, NE. Oh, Nebraska, I’m sure you’re a fine state full of nice people, but for me in my state of affairs, you’re often a hindrance. Also, your scenery leaves something to be desired, namely scenery. I forgot that we lose an hour on the way east, so we arrived at our hotel at 2:30 am.

After a brief, ineffectual rest, we left the following day (6/11). The drive from Lincoln to Omaha and then through most of Iowa isn’t too bad. We were also blessed to have Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Eat, Pray, Love along with us on CD. We spent the remainder of the trip listening to it and got to Cedar Rapids in the afternoon. We stayed with J’s folks this time, and they did a wonderful job of making us comfortable. They had redone a bedroom upstairs and purchased a double bed with our visit in mind! Thanks! We dined with them (mmm…roast) and headed over to D&E’s house, where we stayed up far too late talking about anything. We were so glad to see them, we didn’t mind a second consecutive night of going to sleep late.

On Friday(6/12), J and I split up our day. She stayed with her family all day working on preparations for the baby shower. I had the enviable task of spending time with friends.  I was at D&E’s for a while, and then we drove across town to Nate’s (soon to be former) apartment. N&A had set up an excellent buffet of junk food snacks–chips and dip, jalapeño poppers, and mozzarella sticks. I also had the joy of playing my first game of Cities and Knights of Catan, which is Settlers ratcheted up three notches. I loved it! It helped that I won, of course… Then there was some time for Super Smash Brothers on the ol’ N64. Hanging out with Jason also made this afternoon special, as I rarely have the privilege of his company. After that, I at dinner with my parents at Ruby Tuesday and then watched the Penguins win the Stanley Cup (w00t!). It wasn’t enough time with my folks, but we’re glad we get to see them next month.

Saturday (6/13) was the shower. After some final preparations in the morning, I drove back to D’s house for more video games and chatting. It was also wonderful to see my old friend G after so many years, and I met his beautiful wife and daughter. After the shower was over, everybody came back to D&E’s and spent a lovely evening there. The barbecue was delicious, and there was far more food than our company could consume in a given night, which we all know is the hallmark of a great Midwestern meal. N&A graced us with their attendance. Jason and JL brought their daughters over, and it was a joy to spend time with them. D’s dad was also present, and E’s mom and sister-in-law rounded out the company. The day ended sitting around the outdoor fireplace, talking, laughing and watching the stars come out.

The following day (6/14), we celebrated the birthday of J’s dad. We had a slow morning and then ate steaks that Dan H cooked. Juicy. After homemade ice cream with German chocolate cake–yes, I’m serious–we enjoyed a quick visit to Grandma and Don’s house. Then we drove J’s brother back to his place in Cedar Falls. It was good to have a chance to catch up with him. Then we ate out with Jessi and Dan H at Granite City, which I had never been to before. I thoroughly enjoyed the Cuban sandwich I had, and we were glad we had a chance to devote some time to them.

Monday (6/15) was lovely. We hung out with D&E all day. We ate at a diner, talked a lot, enjoyed more Dutch Blitz (I lost; D won), played some Mario Kart 64, and took Lucy for a walk. We closed out the day playing miniature golf at Airport National Golf Course. I had no idea they had such a nice putt putt course! It was an ideal Iowa summer night: cool, bright orange sunset, lovely green rolling hills all around, and me winning in mini golf (I beat E by 3 strokes). But of course that day was more than its activities. It is always wonderful and restorative to be with such good friends. We really wished we didn’t have to leave the following day, but I guess it’s better to have a visit that leaves you wanting more.

Tuesday (6/16) was spent driving back across the green, undulating fields of Iowa, through the taupe-colored and increasingly boring plains of Nebraska, and back into the rocky soil of the Centennial State until we could see the Front Range again. J and I listened to much more Elizabeth Gilbert, which was enjoyable and passed the time well. We set a new record that day for fastest time between Cedar Rapids and Denver: 11 hours, 35 minutes, including four stops. It was good to be home (it always is), but we immediately missed our loved ones who were and are once again over 800 miles away.

Thinking back through this too-short excursion, it’s amazing how many wonderful, caring people we have in our lives. Everyone was so generous to us! It was a pleasure to be back in CR again, and J and I cannot wait to see all of you again, whenever that occasion arises.