GLOBAL READS. BY V. JOLENE MILLER
READING ON THE RUN Binge reading on the run because everything else can wait. ABOUT THE COLUMNIST
In Alaska, I’m a behavioral health instructor by day and a Ph.D. student by night. When I’m not teaching, I have my nose in a textbook or a scholarly article. These days, my writing is nonfiction and my puppy, Omar, is lucky if I can spare ten minutes to play fetch. I still carry a book in my purse because I hope to get a few minutes to read. Fifteen minutes before dawn, in between assignments, or right before falling into bed. Reading is my resting place.
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OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2021
This fall, I’ll be reading a new book. I don’t have the typical feelings about immersing myself in this one. You won’t find me caressing the cover in anticipation of getting a break from the day job so that I can read a few pages. There is a high probability that I will not be anxiously mentally debating which character is my favorite. I’ll be highlighting sentences and looking up vocabulary words, but it won’t be the same. My book of (forced) choice is Applied Statistics I by Rebecca Warner. Have you read this? If so, did you do well with the concepts? Are you perhaps interested in tutoring me? I joke—sort of. Math, in any form, is not my thing. I remember being in early elementary school and being clueless as to why my answers did not align with the teacher’s answers. We used the same numbers. We used the same formula. There was a crossed signal somewhere between my brain and what my pencil put on the page. As I approach the start date of this next semester, I won’t lie. I. am. Nervous. The stakes are higher. Well, maybe not higher, but the big picture looms larger in my mind. Failing this course would mean money spent without reward. It would mean delaying the gratification of finishing this degree program on time. Let’s face it, retaking the course is an unpleasant thought. While contemplating my future read (and stressing out about it in the process), I recalled a book quote that helped calm my frazzled mind. (Don’t you love when that happens?) Ironically, a few years ago, during another
