The first day of school

Today is my first day of teaching. For the last few weeks, I've vacillated between being petrified to being ecstatic. Let's hope I move more toward the latter in the days and weeks to come! Let's also hope I still use words like "vacillated" and "latter" after talking to teenagers all day.

One of the texts I'm teaching this week is Oedipus...wonderful, delightful, sordid Oedipus. In honor of that, here's a poem that one of my fellow teachers sent me last week while I was doing my planning:

"Myth"
By Muriel Rukeyser

Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the
roads. He smelled a familiar smell. It was
the Sphinx. Oedipus said, "I want to ask one question.
Why didn't I recognize my mother?" "You gave the
wrong answer," said the Sphinx. "But that was what
made everything possible," said Oedipus. "No," she said.
"When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning,
two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered,
Man. You didn't say anything about woman."
"When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women
too. Everyone knows that." She said, "That's what
you think."