I always wanted memo paper with the phrase “From the desk of” printed up top. It sounded so grown up, especially in my day when typewriters were grown-up machines.

Typists tended to be at least the age of high schoolers who took typing class and they, of course, really learned to type—no fudging, no cheating. Instead, they struggled through repetitive drills, speed tests, and no tolerance for errors.

What would those long-ago typing teachers say if they watched kids practically toddler age typing away today, or, rather, pushing keys in front of scary-bright screens that responded to their pudgy, not properly positioned fingers? Their response would begin with a shriek, I suspect.

Meanwhile, most of us are back at our typewriters (not sure we ever left). A new semester has begun, frightfully early for me, commencing on January 3rd with a master’s course I’m teaching for Memoria College called The Russian Novel. It is actually a study of Good and Evil in 19th-Century Literature with a focus on Russian writers, but we launch the discussion by reading Goethe’s play Faust Part I. No one would label that easing into a semester!

Beyond that, a lot of fun things are in store here for Spring 2022. We will be continuing our Night at the Opera series which has amassed quite a following including many young people. It’s fabulous to be part of their discovery of musical theater. Our next opera night will be January 25 (8 p.m. Eastern) when we explore Wagner’s gorgeous work Lohengrin–an impressive work based on a beguiling legend that offers some very familiar music.

The Cyrillic Boot Camp will return—in case you missed it in the past. Here’s what I can promise from this session: within one hour, boom, you will be deciphering the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet, understand its origins, and gain a bit of fluency with many letters and some key words. This is a good workshop, too, for students starting as young as mid to upper elementary.

Then we’ll have sessions in our What’s So Great About? series, and our sweeps through historical eras. I’m looking to present some webinars on art, also. Look for the continuation of our “Seasonal” Series with Music for Winter on January 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern. As always, I welcome and deeply appreciate your suggestions in all of these ventures.

Today, as many of you know, is Epiphany in the Western Christian Calendar (translate that into “Decorations down unless you are going to push the liturgical season the full 40 days to February 2” . . . which we have done in the past!). It is also Christmas Eve for those Christians whose liturgical seasons follow the Old Julian Calendar (e.g., Russian Orthodox and Orthodox in other lands). We have many friends in Russia, as well as family members visiting east of the Ural Mountains right now. They are sitting down as I write to the traditional Slavic Christmas Eve supper–a multi-multi-course, meatless menu that includes dishes surprising to Westerners, starting with the “honey-and-garlic” dish. Let us wish our Eastern brothers and sisters a joyful Christmas Season.