Three Beautiful Things 10-05-2025: The Mythological Past in the Present, Soul Affirmation in the Classroom, Catching Up on Puzzles

1. Yesterday I got an email from Nini in response to my blog post about going to the Preston Singletary exhibit in Spokane. Nini told me she wished she could see this exhibit (she doesn't live nearby and won't). Moreover, what I wrote and the link from the museum I sent to her, reminded her of Louise Erdrich. 

Her mention of Louise Erdrich deepened my futile and impossible wish that Rita were alive and could see this exhibit. Rita and I assigned at least three of Erdrich's novels to our philosophy/writing students. I know we worked with Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and Tracks. I can't remember whether in our later years teaching together we assigned The Bingo Palace, too. 

At the museum, as I made my way through the story of Raven bringing light to the world, I, too, thought of Louise Erdrich, not because she told this particular story in her novels, but because she so deftly and beautifully weaved stories she created in the present or in earlier parts of the 20th century with tales from the deep and mythological Native American past. I most recently experienced this in her novel, The Round House and the way she brought the story of Wiindigo (this word has many spellings) into the novel. 

So my experience at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture continues to deepen, my thoughts about and wishes for Rita grow stronger, and my plans to return to this exhibit gain momentum. 

2. I also deeply appreciated that Judy, one of our students from those team teaching days,  commented on my blog post. She experienced the course she enrolled in with us as soul affirming and I commented back that her presence and involvement in that class were also soul affirming. Judy continues to be a soul affirming and positive resident of Eugene and I'm very happy that we have stayed in touch all these years through involvement at St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Facebook. 

3. All my gallivanting last week during my trip to Pendleton put me behind in solving daily New York Times crossword puzzles. Today was a relaxing day as I slowly, surely, and with some much needed help from the World Wide Web, got caught up.