Esculent

So, Bruce has revealed my purported secret blogging identity. But little does he know my countervailing charm: teaching from life. I'm pretty sure I'm much weirder in person than I've ever managed to be in type.

And if not...

Hi, Carmen!

So we're back from our lovely trip to la belle province. Too much history and culture for me to articulate. We'll make you watch the pictures if you come within 40 feet of us, though. I tried maple syrup. J'ai pratiqué parler francais. And I was drawn as a cat. What more can I say?

In the News

Wood bison have returned to the area around Fort Providence, a community 210 kilometres southwest of Yellowknife. Trouble is, some of them have moved into the hamlet. For much of the summer, seven bull bison have been hanging around, causing damage and generally scaring people with their aggressive behaviour. See the full story here.

Courts have declared the dubious practice of "scrubbing" films a violation of copyright (and in Canada of moral right): See more here.

Humans produce an estimated 60 billion tons of plastic material every year — and much of it is ending up in our oceans, where it is increasingly troubling — see here.

Kansas is one of twelve American states in which sex under a certain age is always presumed illegal, regardless of consent or the age difference between the partners. A new interpretation of Kansas' reporting law, however, makes it the only state requiring that doctors, nurses, counselors, and all other care providers report as abuse any sexual interaction between teens under sixteen. Yes, including that awkward first kiss and full-frontal snogging: see this.


Kibbles and Bits

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once. — Cyril Connolly

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect. — Owens Lee Pomeroy

Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out. — Italian proverb

Since I first gained the use of reason my inclination toward learning has been so violent and strong that neither the scoldings of other people ... nor my own reflections ... have been able to stop me from following this natural impulse that God gave me. He alone must know why; and He knows too that I have begged Him to take the light of my understanding, leaving only enough for me to keep His law, for anything else is excessive in a woman, according to some people. And others say it is even harmful. — Juana Ines de la Cruz, 1691, in a reply to the Bishop of Puebla, who had attacked her scholarly work as inappropriate for her sex


Last week I finished reading Gone with the Wind, at last, and watched Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. Personally, I was cheering for the Phantom. Then tonight we watched Brokeback Mountain. People walked out of the theatre?!? Really??? Sigh. But Kananaskis looked very climbable. Next week's movie: Lost in Translation.

Yesterday I started yet another grad course, this one on curriculum inquiry. Please remind me, whenever you next see me, to be very very quiet. I tried averting my eyes from the professor, then sitting on my hands, then biting the insides of my cheeks. It was like being in grade two again. It's very hard not to talk in class.

Note to self: Things not to do: call the voicemail of the person whose job you're filling in his absence.

Speaking of work, it's pleasant once again. I'm SO SO SO looking forward to September. In my other other life, I have worked out a tutoring schedule for Zak's English 10-1 program. IF we can stay on schedule (and with my involvement, that's quite a big if), he'll be finished by the Christmas break and will write a final exam in January. Nothing like putting one's non-existent credentials to the test, hmm?

Now reading: A Short History of the Printed Word by Warren Chappell (fascinating!), A Feeling for Books by Janice Radway, The Merchants of Venus: Inside Harlequin and the Empire of Romance by Paul Grescoe, The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg, and many, many articles on curriculum theory.

And I have papers due on August 25 and 28.

So there.

Must sleep now.

Leslie