I consider myself a patient person. But that patience seems a bit short at the moment. I realized again tonight that if I get through the time from now to the election without having a serious political argument with someone(s), it will be a tribute to my ability to be diplomatic. Or tactful. Or simply to walk away ( Read more... )

Chain of thought: Heard today, a country song in which a farmer prays that his crops and his kids continue to grow. Which leads to ( Read more... )

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a little girl who was going to a public school. Her school started each day with all the students saying The Lord's Prayer. (This was a very long time ago ( Read more... )

Tonight's subject of Penshark confusion: The idea that all criticism is automatically a negative thing and if you truly liked/loved the subject, you wouldn't see the problems ( Read more... )

I have some trouble saying the Pledge of Allegiance these days ( Read more... )

Product of some conversations and some reading and a movie: If the newspaper industry dies before it can fully reinvent itself, the death will be blamed on the internet. And to be sure, the 'net will share some of the blame. Newspapers were among the first things affected by our craving for all the information all the time with none of the cost ( Read more... )

I watched "All the President's Men" with my two 101 sections to close out this semester. On the good side: I'd forgotten how much I enjoy that movie. I also had the pleasure of watching many of the students get intrigued, some in spite of themselves ( Read more... )

1. "I was misquoted/misunderstood/taken out of context" is used as an excuse so often that I admit I usually don't believe it. It too frequently translates this way: "Oh, were you actually listening to my stupid comments?" or "Oh, I didn't know you were going to put THAT in the story." (Extra demerits are given if the speaker is a public figure ( Read more... )

Last I looked, there were about 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. Many of us have had mastectomies. Some of =that= number have, for a variety of reasons, not done reconstruction ( Read more... )

Perhaps someday I'll understand how you pay for a college education, but then skip classes and do a half-assed job on the classwork ... but I doubt it.

Meanwhile, I find myself wondering what a couple of students could have done if they gave a damn.