getting through

Getting through what you might ask?

My list:
typing lesson plans
grading all projects
creating decorations for the book fair
entering grades
writing a teacher manipulatives book
running 8 miles (supposedly)
reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
checking summer school boxes for reading and math teacher resource books and student editions
drawing shoes
ordering summer school supplies
ordering art supplies

While working through my list yesterday...and many of these things stay on my list from day to day until I can check them off...I happened upon an amazing visual image from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:

I hid behind a mound of earth that had been dug up to make a grave for some books, literature was the only religion her father practiced, when a book fell on the floor he kissed it, when he was done with a book he tried to give it away to someone who would love it, and if he couldn't find a worthy recipient, he buried it...

...The books had been buried, so I hid this time behind a group of trees, I imagined their roots wrapped around the books, pulling nourishment from the pages, I imagined rings of letters in their trunks...

Since the reading of this passage I just keep trying to find a way to visually represent this...a way in which to represent this without screwing it up...without making it seem/look/feel trivial. This passage sums up the way I think about, look at, react to books. This passage sums up the way my parents and family think about, look at, react to books. If only the artwork in my mind could be extracted for the enlightenment of others...but then again, isn't that what every artist wants to accomplish?