Far and away the greatest classes I ever took were my Italian literature ones in college. I took four of them, all from the same professor, who had tiny classes (about eight students), and a terrifying strictness that was quite conducive to learning. She had two poetry classes and two short story ones, and they were required for the Italian major, which I got — mostly because I wanted to keep taking her classes.

For every poem or short story we studied, she’d ask, “What is the subject, and what is the theme?” The subject, she said, is what the poem is “about.” It’s a noun, probably one word. Don’t get all worked up, and don’t answer with the plot or anything complicated. “Love.” “Sex.” “Misery.” (You see, it was very Italian Italian literature.) The theme is what you learned about the subject. “Love overwhelms your senses.” “Sex makes life complicated.” “Misery follows love and sex.” (Very Italian.) We studied a poem by a morose man named Leopardi, the original emo kid, and I swear, in class, she said the theme was “Life sucks.” (When I put that in an essay, though, I got scolded.)

Subject and theme are a great thing to know, and like almost everything I learned in those classes, the lesson carried over into other parts of my life.

I have now been in California for just more than two years, and I have six weeks left. I’m simultaneously trying to wrap up the most powerful segment of my life so far and prepare for a thunderstorm, rock-star, whirlwind 2010. (If things go according to plan, by this time next year, I’ll be settling into New York City, having spent eight weeks reconnecting with my family, 2 1/2 months in Costa Rica learning Spanish and a ridiculously fun baseball season in Boston.) So — I’m getting contemplative.

Subject and theme are as good of frameworks as any for contemplation, and considering them has helped me stay calm in the pending shitshow of a transition. If my subject here is food, the theme is that spicy food is good. If it’s family, the theme is that mine is one of the best ever. Or that you can create one anywhere. If it’s faith, the theme is that you can always come back. And if it’s love — it’s that I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m good at it.

For that, I have to thank every inch of my experience. The sunshine and weather put me in a fine mood to love everybody. My girlfriends taught me that I deserve to love myself. My roommates taught me courtesy and generosity. Love is a choice, and traffic taught me that I have the ability to choose calm. More than anything, my students taught me how to love. That it requires superhuman patience and constant giving. That it’s sacrificial, and that it’s listening. And that it is borne of gratitude.

I thank every inch of my experience — that’s where my thunderstorm, rockstar, whirlwind 2010 begins.

One Response to “Subject and theme”

1. Jamie Hergott Says:
   November 25th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

   LOVE this.

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