Before leaving on this holiday, I bought a book that I've been meaning to read for a long time. It's called Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. An historical fiction story set during the time of the First World War, the author has won numerous awards including the Amazon. ca/ Books in Canada First Novel Award.
The novel has been my constant companion over the past two weeks, from our airplane ride to LA to the beaches of Carlsbad, from our Amtrak trip through San Juan Capistrano last Friday to our Coaster junket to San Diego's Old Town today.
My fascination with the story of the aboriginal Canadian experience in the First World War is surpassed only by my admiration for its author, Joseph Boyden. As a metaphor-less math guy who struggles to write a short blog entry every now and again, I stand in awe of authors like Boyden who pen such gripping dramas.
I am proud to say that I taught Joseph back at Brebeuf College in the early eighties. Although I've taught thousands of students over my career, I can still recall Joseph sitting by the window in my afternoon grade 12 math class. One day, as I was teaching about mean, mode and median, I asked the students how many children were in their families. Joe replied eleven which was surprising enough until his classmate, Jerry Leon of Leon Furniture store fame, rang in with thirteen. Needless to say, the results of my survey were somewhat skewed that day.
Again, I feel privileged to have taught Joseph and salute his marvelous literary achievement, Three Day Road.
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