The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Three cheers for the end of school! Hip Hip Hurrah! Hip Hip Hurrah! Hip Hip Hurrah!
Today has not been a particularly pleasant day, but it has been MY day, and that makes it lovely nonetheless. I shall endeavor to always remember that when in the future I am tempted to decry the passage of some day.
I have already dived into my summer reading, completing one little book and beginning another. I sped through the famous The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery over the weekend, in early preparation for viewing the opera during next year's Tulsa Opera season. I confess to being somewhat bewildered and not completely pleased by the ending. I shall, however, read it again more closely. I do wish to understand its popularity and the favor with which it is regarded by friends of mine. Has anyone any thoughts to offer on the subject?
Last night I begain the American classic Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I've only finished the introduction, but it was quite interesting. The author of the introduction, Amanda Claybaugh, attempts to paint Stowe as an early feminist, explaining her obvious submission to her husband as "a canny strategy for turning those (gender) constraints toward her own ends. By sitting silently while her husband or son spoke on her behalf, Stowe was not simply conforming to the expectations of her audience, but also dramatizing her conformity and thereby transforming conformity into a source of power." I find this funny. Not surprisingly, I know little about Stowe, so I cannot positively refute Claybaugh's claims. However, I find it far more likely that her explanation is a feminist's pitiful attempt to make a feminist hero of someone who dared to accept her role as wife. And that amuses me.