There’s some great news to report today: Willa Cather’s birth home has been purchased by a preservationist! Read about the buyer and initial plans for the property on The Winchester Star. Last month I had shared on the April reminder post that the home was going on the market and that the Cather family and preservationists were scrambling to raise funds to purchase the dilapidated building. It will be interesting to follow their progress.

Today is the third, not the second Wednesday of the month when I normally post a reminder for our next Willa Cather short story. This is the last time I can blame school for being off schedule because, as of yesterday, I have officially completed library school! More on that in a future post, but I hope now to have more time to devote to this reading project and resume writing other types of posts as well (such as library visits).

Our story this month, “The Professor’s Commencement,” is wonderfully synchronous with graduation season. At least the title is. The story is about the last day of work for a high school professor who is retiring. It was published in New England Magazine in June 1902. Cather had started teaching high school in Pittsburg in 1901.

Read the story over on the Willa Cather Archive: https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss018

What’s next?

As there are five Wednesdays this month, I’ll push back the response post by a week to the 31st of May.

Read “The Professor’s Commencement” sometime this month and come back to discuss it on the response post I’ll share on May 31st, the fifth Wednesday of the month. Or, feel free to read it now and comment here if you can’t wait until then!

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New to this blog? Learn more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project here. In a nutshell, we read one Cather short story a month. I remind everyone of what story we’re reading on the second Wednesday of the month and then share a response on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Jump in anytime!