kate is it

 Today, in the land of university library 

I was given the task of erasing pencil marks from the pages of a recently returned book. I was sad to erase them, the student had obviously read every page and her thoughts wouldn’t be passed on to the next reader.

Yes, I am one of those people that likes a book to be underlined, favorite passages starred, and small notes scrawled in the margins. {unless the typeography is too perfect to ruin- then I want it spotless} I like my books marked up for the same reason that I like freckles and scars: stories. That sprinkle of freckles across your nose tells about the summer in Cape Cod where you read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time {and have read it many times since}

I have a scar on my knee that tells two stories in which I fall painfully and dramatically- once in Russia and once in Mexico. Tattoos, though they are often quite unfortunate looking, can be redeemable if they own a good story.

So I was thinking all of this while erasing another student’s story out of the library book. And when I finally finished erasing all 130 pages of underlining, starring, and scrawled notes…I decided to plant a tree for the one cut down. Hence, I’m marking the world wide web with my story and my thoughts.

Maybe that’s what blogging is about today- it’s not simply a sharing of information. It is taking something that’s everyone’s and making your own tiny marks in the margins.