Truthfully, I hated English class. And, it wasn’t just because I hated the hard-nosed, unwavering Miss Muratsuka, who had turned a moderately distasteful class into a daily 50 minute screeching, teeth gnashing, life-threatening experience.
No, it was because I hated all the nuances of English and the rules, with everything so fixed and unbending that you couldn’t take the time to use the language for a reasonable purpose . . . you were always so concerned that you would make an error in grammer. It sucked all the fun out of the language. From that point on I hated the thought of English classes.
I must note however that I do have a minor in English which goes to prove the proverb . . you can never get enough of what you don’t want. But, I digress.
I was studying the use of the subjunctive past tense in French when I realized that I am supposed to hate all this stuff. Well, studying French is not like studying English! I wanted to learn French!
So, as I think about this now . . maybe it wasn’t Miss Muratsuka and English grammer that I hated so much.
I met Miss Muratsuka and her brother in upstate New York the year after she left Hawaii. It was a thrilling journey up the Hudson, through cobblestoned streets and vistas preserved from the American Revolution.
So, now that I am thinking about this, I realize that it certainly wasn’t Miss Muratsuka that I hated.