There's nothing worse than showing up ready for a rousing discussion of wonderful literature and finding the class unprepared. I had re-read Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon over the weekend and I walked into class eager to dive head-first into my second-favorite Morrison novel, but I had forgotten one thing: my students just got back from fall break. Nobody reads literature over fall break. Not even when the assigned reading is by Toni Morrison.
I did my little song-and-dance about Lorain and Morrison's other novels and kinship and rituals and community, but when we got done dancing around the novel and had to actually step into it, the room went silent. Faces became blank and eyes avoided my gaze. It was clear that no one--no one!--had done the required reading.
I wanted to ask what they had read over break but I was afraid the answer would be "nothing." how can anyone go four days without reading? How can anyone spend four days in the presence of an unread Toni Morrison novel and not open it up? I felt like a chef offering an exquisite feast to starving people only to have them say, "No thanks; I'm on a diet," or like a suitor presenting a diamond ring to the love of his life only to hear her say, "Hold on, would you? I've got to take this call."
I suppose I can try again Wednesday. I think I'll let them do the teaching this time. Maybe we'll all learn something new.
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