Having just completed Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow this morning, it saddens me to know that I missed the opportunity to discuss the many themes and lessons that I found in this book with an expert on the text and those very lessons that the McConnell Center provided earlier this semester. At the time of the seminar, I had something that conflicted and was unable to attend. Looking back at it now, and now that I have finished the book, I wish I would have made time. The discussion that went along with this book would have been fantastic. This book touches on everything from love to community to work. This book did a wonderful job of making all of these lessons apparent while still making the book quick and fun to read. The flow of the book, thanks to the narrator Jonah, was great. It was another shining example of the great work done by Wendell Berry.
I also missed my opportunity to meet with the incredible Wendell Berry this semester, and that is an opportunity that I will always regret missing. I have heard stories from other scholars about the impact that that trip and visit had on them and I am sorry to say that I was not there. I sometimes forget how great the McConnell Center is for providing these opportunities for us, but when I look back on the great experiences that I missed out on, it hits me all over again. I will try my best to take full advantage in the future and I thank the center for their continued work for the students.