I had known that studying in the seminary would be tough for me after a dozen years after graduating from college.

But this is the first time in two years that I felt that I was on a hamster wheel. I would complete one reading assignment only to find another waiting for me. (“Wait, there’s another 20 pages to read? Grrrr.”)  Various obligations around the seminary also drained my reading time.

But the books are amazing. Who knew that I would be reading “The Lord of the Rings,” a book on mindfulness and depression, and Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body”? Still many more books await and meager time is left to enjoy them. “Brothers Karamazov” anyone?

What should I do? Well …

After class this morning, I overheard Leland and Brenden talk about reading assignments. Brenden suggested switching between reading out loud and reading quickly. With long boring tracts, he advised reading it in an accent (e.g. Southern, French, Irish, etc.) The reader has to enunciate every word to pull off the accent; therefore, that person will remember better. Those are great ideas. I wonder what these psychology books would sound like with a Freud accent.

But spin and spin I go, hoping for the end of this semester as the pages flutter by.