Silliness

OK, I think I have figured out the flash sideways on LOST. These are what would have happened if the plane had landed on September 23, 2004. But if the plane had not crashed, then all the things that happened on the island would not have happened, and they wouldn't have gone back in time and changed things, .... no, wait a minute . . . if they hadn't gone back in time and manipulated the past that was, then everyone's lives would have been different when they landed . . . but they did crash . .. . never mind. I don't have it figured out. Their lives are different but the broad outlines are the same, so something in the past must have shifted.

Is it me or does Kelly Ripa look anorexic?

The purpose of this blog was originally to write about communication, which is what I teach. Unfortunately, everyone who teaches writing does not write well; not everyone who teaches communication or speaking does those well. I like to think I do both well, but sometimes I don't know. Today I was reviewing for the midterm, which I prepare the students for and then let them take in groups. I was trying to encourage them to write engaging introductions. I said I didn't want bland, vanilla introductions; I want rocky road introductions.

Then I told them the story of my grandma, who when she was well into her 80s, was taken to a nice restaurant in Abingdon, Virginia, the Martha Washington Inn, for lunch. My husband and my mom were with her. They ordered her a bowl of vanilla ice cream and she demanded to know why there were little black specks in it. Being the poor mountain woman she was, she'd never seen fancy-schmancy vanilla ice cream. My students laughed at the story. "If you're going to have a vanilla introduction, it better be Haagen-Daz vanilla, $5.00 a pint, with the little black specks, not the Flavorich $1.50 a gallon vanilla. Or better yet, rocky road." The problem is, some of them had no idea what rocky road was!

So, even the best examples are limited, but any example is better than no example. Getting my student to use examples is one of the hardest things I do.

Our librarian is going to have a book festival, and I get to read from my book. I really wish more people would buy it. Or even read it.

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