July 19,2017 THE PRETENDER

It's been REALLY hot and humid lately. Running has been SLOW and air quality alerts have been all over the news. Gotta get out there early--before the sun pokes her weary head through the clouds--THAT'S FOR SURE. Seriously drenched from head to toe with sweat after every run--Kind of like sitting in a sauna for an hour. Hopefully I'll sweat off a couple of unwanted pounds--or NOT.  I'm pretty kooky about my weight--have been for years. I'm actually afraid to weigh myself these days--I've been eating AS MUCH AS I've been running--It's a vicious cycle. Wish I weren't so critical of myself--it's like I see myself through a coke bottle. My youngest turned ten the other day so we were looking at old photos. I remember looking at those pictures right after they were taken--analyzing every body part--ARMS--THIGHS--BELLY--and thinking YUK!!  So crazy. I look at  those SAME pictures NOW--and shake my head. WHAT WAS I THINKING??   I'd give anything to look like that now. NEVER SATISFIED. My goal is to be MORE forgiving and LESS judgmental about my body--need to stop overanalyzing and be thankful that I am healthy and able-bodied. Everything else is just icing on the cake. If  Colman Silk, the main character of Philip Roth's novel The Human Stain, only accepted himself--maybe his life would have turned out differently.

First of all,  a little about Philip Roth. He's a great American writer and winner of several awards during his long career including a National Book Award, Pulitzer and a Man Booker Prize for  lifetime achievement in fiction. The Human Stain is set in 1998 in New England and told from the perspective of Nathan Zuckerman, a writer researching Silk's life for a biography.  Coleman Silk is a Classics professor at the end of his career at Athena College. He has had a distinguished career and is well-received by both faculty and students--until two students accuse him of being a racist. Silk is eventually forced to retire in a wake of shame--without even defending himself. His wife dies shortly thereafter and Silk falls off the deep end and decides to stick it to everyone. He has an affair with a 34 year old illiterate janitor who works at Athena--with a whole set of problems including a violent ex-husband out for revenge. His children are disgusted by his behavior and won't speak to him and his former colleagues don't know what to think. In the midst of all this chaos, Zuckerman learns some damaging information while researching for his biography on Silk.  Coleman Silk has been keeping a secret for 50 years--from his wife, children and friends. A secret that will change everything. Find out Silk's secret when you read this tale about race, shame, violence and political correctness--all set against the Clinton impeachment scandal of 1998. Hope you get all the irony that's packed into these 380 pages. It's a bit dense--maybe a 6 mile run--but the writing is brilliant and Roth is definitely worth the read.