Teachers have a lot of power. Writers have a lot of power. I am a combination of the two. Fortunately for the world, I'm also a bit of a Spiderman fan - great power, great responsibility, etc..

My class went on a field trip to the Newberry library yesterday. They have four pages from a Caxton Chaucer, a colour print. I have held the weight of past ages wrapped in fragile ink. One of the students wanted to know how much a page was worth. The librarian gave two anwers: "Millions" and "It's worth whatever people will pay for it". Really, that's all anything is worth, whether they're paying the price with dollar bills or with labour or with pain.

Because of the trip, I've also discovered that what my life is missing is a book snake. Basically, a tube of fabric stuffed with small, heavy objects (the Newberry's felt like gravel). They make the snakes themselves, so it must be a fairly straightforward process. Now, if only I had sisters who sewed . . .

Two weeks. Two major papers. Then sleep.