My Favorite Things

“My Favorite Things” is a familiar tune from Rogers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, and a window into human relationships that has long fascinated me. When I was 15 years old, I went to France as an exchange student. It was 1958 before texting and email existed, and cross-Atlantic telephone calls were prohibitively expensive. No one spoke English to me for 9 months, and many French people asked me a question that no American had ever asked: “Who is your favorite poet?” I didn’t have an answer. For the French it was a key to understanding a person.

More recently I read in a novel by Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, claiming “You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question: What is your favorite book?” How about your favorite breakfast? Your favorite animal? Your favorite character in history? Your favorite season? Your favorite Bible story?

Please join me in exploring this phenomenon, and thereby going deeper in our knowledge of ourselves and each other over six mornings, Wednesday June 19 - July 25 during the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Hansen Hall at St. John’s Church. You can register by email at [email protected], and the group will be limited to 20.