On the Same Page for 2005: In the Time of the Butterflies

I just finished reading In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. It's this year's selection for the On the Same Page community reading program.

The book is historical fiction based on the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and its atrocities, most specifically as related to four sisters. It's written in the tone of The Diary of Anne Frank but with enough details to remind me of The Gulag Archipelago.

I identified in some ways with each of the sisters-but with Minerva, the most radical the least, and Dede, the least radical slightly less. The youngest, Maria Teresa, I felt the most like - perhaps because I too am the youngest and also because I also kept a journal or diary.

Just in case you're not familiar with the on-the-same-page concept, here's how it works: a book is selected that should stir discussion and hopefully increase understanding among people of different backgrounds; the once-a-year program and the book selection is publicized; lots of copies of the book are made available at the library; people read the book; people get together at various community events and discuss the book.

Rivers and Recitations

My husband and I took the kids rafting on the Watauga River on Saturday. Well, we paid a guide service and joined a couple of busloads of people starting in our outfitter's retail location in Banner Elk, NC and traveling to our putting-in place on the river, just below the TVA-built Wilbur Dam somewhere near Elizabethton, TN.

It's a 45-minute bus ride from the store to the river and so, to make the trip fun and memorable, the guides provide non-stop entertainment. Highlights of their act include mention of a Jack Nicholson designed golf course, derision of a (sheet metal) fabrication company as dishonest, jibes at Floridians in the mountains, and a visit from Elvis.

Apparently there are some regulars on the trips including a few folks sitting in front of us on the bus who were sharing stories and jokes; one was an older man who was invited to recite "The Cremation of Sam McGee" on the return trip. He stood in front of a river-wet, slightly weary captive audience, and didn't miss a beat or rhyme and, according to my husband (who was familiar with the poem) perhaps only a word or two.

As he returned to his seat, he said that though he couldn't remember the events of a couple days ago, he still remembered this poem, which he had memorized in 1951.

Throwing my lot in with strangers, even for just a day river trip, is something that I still need to consider before committing; yesterday, thankfully, was a great ride.

Bleachers and the Book of Job

I read Bleachers by John Grisham while I had some extra time at the beach. It's an insightful, though brief and fictional, look at the value and the foolishness of high school athletics. The story is told from the perspective of formerly worshipped high school football greats.

It reminded me, fairly vividly, of a conversation that I had with a close friend during our senior year of high school. We were walking on the bleachers at the big game: the football game between our high school and our arch-rival. Her dad was the head football coach and this was an important event for her and her family. She had been praying for a win and, when it was evident that we would lose, expressed her doubt in the existence of God.

I know you may be thinking that she was immature and shallow, as if God could be on our team's side for something as inconsequential as a high school football game.

It is here that Grisham's book and Job, for me, intersect. Her dad, the head football coach, was one of those rare persons who combined exceptional coaching talent with integrity and commitment to youth development (this is the rare part) that superseded the desire to win football games. I'm making an educated guess but I think that there was a kid (or perhaps a few kids) who didn't play by all the rules (making practices or making the grades) but, if he (they) played, it would make the difference between winning and losing. It's an age-old dilemma that even I, during my career as a summer league swim coach, has had to face.

The coach, our head football coach, made the right decision but lost. The booster club would have rather seen him compromise his values for a win.

For most of the book dedicated to him (a cosmic Trading Places found in the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures-Job is Dan Akroyd), Job argued that, contrary to popular and long-held beliefs, those who are honorable, righteous, and charitable to the less fortunate suffer while those who are greedy, dishonest, and unrighteous prosper. It's troubling to realize and reckon with.

The next season, after my friend and I had graduated, my friend's family moved back to their home state. Having resigned his position at our high school, her dad took a position as assistant football coach with a college program. In the fall, our high school won the 4A State Football Championship.

After all these years, and a reading of Bleachers and Job, I finally understand my friend's point of view.