Say Hi to Harper

To start, Welcome! It's not just the start of a new year, but of a new decade, one which promises to bring new adventures, experiences, relationships, and greater knowledge to us all, and I'm so very grateful to share this new experience with all of you.

Literature has always fascinated me in that I can be so drawn to one book and yet so put off by another. That I can relate so closely with a certain character, yet feel so isolated by another. That an author's work can disturb me, but I can be fascinated with the author herself. Sometimes I feel so emotionally attached to a book that I'm genuinely disappointed when I turn the last page. I've felt connected in one or many ways to a specific character or situation, and the book has become a part of my daily life for however long it has taken me to read. Where I find myself thinking about it or relating it to situations currently occurring in my life, and when that experience is over, when the book is not able to read any more, I feel genuine loss. Amidst those feelings is the fantastic realization that a book can change something internally, that one person's imagination can create something that can alter your perceptions, feelings, and beliefs. To me, that is staggering. In a life where the everyday moves too fast, where I interact with the people closest to me through electronic means, and where I forget to have compassion for and connection with others, reading has the amazing ability to bring me back, to ground me. I hope that through this blog we can enhance what we all gain individually from reading by sharing those experiences with each other.

Now, as to the name...

Harper Lee is my favorite author, despite having authored only one published novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." This book had an enormous impact on me when I read it the first time in high school, and further so when I re-read it in college. But more on that later... The real reason I chose to name our blog "The Harper Diaries" is because of how we as a group mirror Harper as an individual.

Harper is an enigma. Her writing is brutally honest and brings awareness to so many issues of enormous importance today through sharing the life experiences of a little girl in the South named Scout. Harper thrived behind the scenes, yet her personality was strong and outward. She shared little of private life directly, yet it can be examined so clearly in her book. Harper was a woman of both strength and grace in a time when often only grace in women was admired. She was wise in her ways and gifted the world with a true masterpiece that will continue to inspire and teach for generations, but protected her individual life from us, allowing her to lead it the way in which she wished.

This balance is what inspired me to name us after Harper. I believe that contributing to the world around us yet not allowing ourselves to forget "me," is necessary to living a fulfilled life. All of Harper's qualities represent you and us. We are all so unique in many ways, yet I believe each of you pride yourself on your inner strength and outer grace, a quality that I so admire in you. You don't back down, but you don't push too hard unnecesarily. You pick your battles, but don't accept defeat. You have inquisitive minds and so much to share with others. Sadly, such discourse is often threatened by society's images for what a woman should be, do, and act like. Harper would have vehemently disagreed with those constraints and would so totally support an intellectual and graceful discourse between women like ourselves. Thus, I thought it so appropriate to name us, a collective of exquisite women, after a woman as exquisite as Harper.

Now, stop laughing at my rambling and Wednesday afternoon attempt at insight, and tell me what you think about "To Kill a Mockingbird" being our first book :)