I'm reading the best book!

Now, keep in mind that I love history, so before you go out and buy this book, Desert Queen, realize it is a historical biography of a woman named Gertrude Bell. I had never heard of her, but as I read this book, I have this growing desire to go back to teaching history. Miss Bell would have been a great addition to my Women Studies class, or to help my understanding of the Middle East. Just as when I read Three Cups of Tea, I find this book fascinating, especially since I have so little background on public relations in the Middle East. Three Cups of Tea was very inspiring, seeing what an individual's determination and hard work can accomplish. The same is true of Gertrude Bell, only her story was pre-World War I, a Victorian English woman, who didn't have the right to vote, let alone the gumption to travel alone to the Middle East and help create the Iraq of today. There are photos in the book of Miss Bell, with her feather clad hats, sitting amongst fifty men, she being the only woman. In an Arab world were women were considered far below men, she was given an audience with sheiks and holy men who had never even seen an English woman before.

I often wonder, when Tyler is in full day school, what type of work I would like to pursue. Usually I think about interior design or owning a shop, but when I read books like this, I get so excited about the possibility of teaching again. If only I'd had some of the experiences and knowledge I have now, when I taught 11 years ago. Our trip to Chicago and the art institute there also made me think about going back to teaching. To teach AP Art History now would be bliss compared to my experience when I was 23 years old and learning as I went along. Anyhow--after I finish the book, I will write more. There are some fascinating quotes and insights from 1919 about Iraq that shed a lot of understanding on current day circumstances.