One of the great things about teaching is that you can change jobs and reinvent yourself. I began my career as a French teacher. Along the way I’ve taught both French and Spanish immersion, 3rd & 4th grade, 6th & 7th grade Humanities, ESL and I’ve been the school librarian. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne , is reputed to have said that to speak another Language is to Possess another soul. I know, having learned French, Danish and Spanish, that learning each added another dimension. I’ve been Adrienne and Adriana. I become Miss Gillespie as I get ready for school.
My mom left home at 15, escaping Timmins to avoid the life she saw unfolding for her if she stayed.
Ben Franklin also left home in his teens, fleeing Boston for Philadelphia, to escape the life he saw unfolding in his father’s soap and candle making shop. In Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty, Russell Freedman lets us into the many ways Ben Franklin reinvented himself.
This is a very readable biography, in the well-researched style we have come to expect from Freedman. The text is supported by a wealth of reproductions of pictures from the period and by Franklin’s own writings. A time line, bibliography and end notes, picture credits and index are found at the end of this excellent book.
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