The last time etch-a-sketch was in the news was a quote from Mitt Romney's campaign advisor: "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an etch-a-sketch." Recently another reference was made to that toy when Jane Pauley said: "I have the memory of an etch-a-sketch." I was glad that someone so young as she could say that. I often wonder where all the information stored in my memory bank has gone. Now I have a metaphor---an etch-a-sketch. I'm particularly feeling this memory loss as I'm working on my next book related to women in the history of Christianity. I've read so many books and done so much work in that area in the past, but it feels almost like my memory has been erased and I'm starting over. I will take a book off the shelf and it sometimes seems like I'm reading it for the first time. I take my frustrations out in shoveling. The snow simply won't quit.
