Prof: Hello, My name is Professor Thorten. Welcome to Modern American Lit 103. If that is not the class you signed up for, you can leave now….Ok. Good. Now how many of you have heard of the Canon? What is the Canon?
Student 5: Isn’t it like everything we are supposed to read by the time we graduate?
Prof: Well, yes. It used to be. Think about it. What unifies the Canon? What do they all have in common. What is the demographic of people who wrote the Canon?
Student 12: Um, wealthy white males.
Prof: Correct! Until recently, the only literature we would teach in our classes would be books written by wealthy white males. Many of the marginalized voices were not heard. We did not teach a well rounded curriculum. Now, I want you to open your books to page 224. On this page you will find a story called, “The Lumberjack.” This story is written by a very marginalized voice, the middle class unmotivated 28 year old female. Before we printed it in our textbook, this piece was never even published in anything but a blog with under 100 followers. This is a voice that is screaming to be heard…. Ok, you may begin reading. I will ask you some follow up questions in 15 minutes.
The Lumberjack
by J.H.
Colin buried his nose in his wife’s hair. What a greeting, after a sweltering sticky day of tree removal. Even though sawdust clung to every hair on his arms hid in the folds of his shirt, she still ran to greet him every day and threw her arms around him.
During dinner that night, after he had showered, Lydia told him that their son had some good news. “ I went poo on the pot today dad,” the son said.
“High Five!” said Colin, and they smacked their hands into one another.
“So,” said Lydia, ” They’re finally taking down that old forest behind the high school?”
“Yep, who would have thought they’d hire me to do it? That property has been for sale for a long time.”
“Remember when we used to eat lunch there every day when we were seniors?”
“Yup, and that is where I kissed you for the first time.”
“Eww,” said the son, covering his eyes.
Lydia winked at Colin and poked his leg under the table with her toe.
Knock! Knock!, The sound startled their quiet evening.
Colin pushed his chair back and went to open the door.
“Oh, Hi, Jared,” said Colin. Jared’s eyes were puffy and red. Plastic grocery bags full of clothes were in each of his hands. His favorite pair of skates hung around his neck.
“She threw me out!” said Jared.
“What? Come in. Do you need a place to spend the night?”
Lydia had overheard the conversation and came to the door and stood in the doorway.
“I’ve never heard a cross word between you two in all the years we have known each other. Maya is one of my best friends. We meet up for coffee every few weeks. I didn’t see this coming. She would have told me.” She reached out and touched Jared’s elbow.
“Let the man in Lydia,” said Colin. He took the bags out of Jared’s hands and brought them into the living room where there was a fold out couch that could turn into a bed. While he fixed the bed, he could hear Jared and Lydia in the kitchen. He heard the sound of the fridge being opened and the plink as Lydia popped the lid off a beer and the cap landed on the counter. He heard Jared take a sip, and say, “I just didn’t see this coming. I just didn’t see this coming.”
——————————————————————————————–
Colin tossed the logs he had cut the day before onto the truck bed. The new fitness center will have a pool. My kid will love it.
It had been a rough night. Jared had not been able to sleep. Lydia noticed every tiny creak in the house and the sound of Jared getting up to wretch and flush the toilet at least five times, had kept her rolling and tossing for the majority of the time they were supposed to be sleeping.
Though his arms felt like taking a break, Colin kept his constant pace of tossing one log after the other. Just as he picked up a hefty log, something in the bark caught his eye. There were some old words carved into the wood, “Jared+Maya Forever.”
Colin smiled ruefully and threw the log into the back of the truck. Jared and Maya must have carved that over 12 years ago when they were all still in high school.
“Poor Jared,” he sighed. Thoughts of high school began to run through his head. Maya and Jared had been so funny together. There was that one time when Maya brought in three pigs from her farm. Jared had written 1,2, and 4 on the pigs. The janitor had been looking for a pig with the #3 on his back for hours, but there was no # 3 pig to be found.
The truck was now full of logs and Colin’s partner drove off to dump the lumber at the county mulching facility. Colin picked up a fresh chainsaw from the bed of his truck. He had just sharpened the chains that morning and it was ready to go. He had felled most of the trees yesterday, but he had saved this little grove of beech trees for last. It was where he and Lydia had liked to sit on sunny afternoons during their senior year.
The first time Lydia had brought him to this grove, she pulled him over the the tree that her parents had carved while they had been in high school. “20 years and still just as in love as the day they met,” she had said while she traced the M+K in the smooth bark. Then, she had turned her head and gave Colin this little knowing smile, like she had known they were to be together like that some day as well.
Near the in-laws’ tree, there was this beech with a knot hole where they would hide presents for one another. In fact, he had hidden her ring in it right before they became engaged. “Get your act together Colin,” he said to himself. He just had to keep reminding himself of that new and shiny building. There would be handball courts and he and Lydia could play a few games on Saturdays, while their son could play in the free child care. The tree was old memories and he could make new memories with his family at the fitness center.
Still, Colin couldn’t shake the memories. Colin choked the saw and it started on the second pull. He would cut Lydia’s parent’s tree first. The part with the initials he would save and his father-in-law could make a table leg or something out of it to commemorate their 40 long relationship. He cut a pie slice and a hinge so that the tree would fall just where he wanted it to.
Lydia’s phone rang. She picked it up.
“It’s your father,” said her mother’s breathless voice, “he was just in a terrible car accident.”
Colin’s day was almost over. All of the trees in the grove were down, except for their tree. He shut off the saw and went over to the tree to say goodbye. He looked at the special hiding place in the beech and chuckled at the poorly carved heart around the knot hole. Lydia had carved the heart and she was not an expert carver she was now. He had carved their names at the bottom of the heart in neat block letters. Colin reached his hand into the hole. There was something in there. A faded bag of what used to be valentine’s candy. Now, it had mushrooms growing on top of it. This bag must have been here since high school and it had gotten buried under the crumbling wood. He smiled and closed his eyes.
Colin shook his head and sighed, he needed to stop being so sentimental. It was just a tree like all the other trees. Just timber. That is all. This tree would end up just like Jared and Maya’s, ground into mulch.
This time, Colin didn’t need to choke the saw because it was already warm. He pulled the cord and it roared to life. He made a hinge cut in the old rotten tree, and then cut through the trunk. It dropped in a directionally accurate location, with no splintering, just like he had planned.
Prof: Ok, the 15 minutes are up. Have you all completed reading? I see two people still reading, I will give you 2 more minutes while I write the questions on the board.
Q1: What do Jared and Maya’s tree, the in-laws’ tree, and Colin and Lydia’s tree have in common?
Q2: What happens to the relationship of the couple once the tree with their initials in it falls? What will this mean for Colin and Lydia?
Q3: How is reading this marginalized voice important for your college education?
(Dear reader, you may now act as the student and answer these questions. Once you finish, you are free to leave class for the day. You homework will be to read “The Yellow Wallpaper” on pgs. 365-372.)
Uncivilized Allowed 