Nathaniel Hawthorne writes: Free Jennifer Wilbanks (aka the runaway bride) from the "Scarlet (ok, orange) Vest"

Have you ever clicked
on a YAHOO! news message board?
What sick freaks.
For some reason,
I wanted to know what "the populous"
had to say about recent boyscout tragedies--
the latest being the 8 year-old who died
when a tree fell on her first-aid tent.

People who comment there are unimaginable.
I have lived such a sheltered life.



In unrelated news,
Habitat called me back in to work on site.
The Women Build is not finished.
Actually, it's no where near being complete.
I'm pretty aggravated & tired about the whole thing.
But the weird news?



The guy from the gym (think back to a January post)
showed up on site today!
In dress clothes with his wife--
they are on the board. How strange is that?

When he saw me, he froze.
"I think I know you," I smiled wryly.

"You've changed your hair." He seemed a bit gazed.
There is some type of energy between us.
His wife must have felt awkward,
because she stared straight ahead and moved on . . .

at least that's how I remember it . . .
I wonder what my "final cut" would show?



One last tidbit of info I'd like to share:

"Of all the encoding skills, spelling tends to be viewed by teachers and students alike as the most arbitrary, the most resistant to instruction, and the least related to intelligence (a myth that has comforted many bad spellers). It is the one area of writing where English teachers themselves will admit ineptness. Outside the academy, however, the response to misspelling is less obliging. Indeed, the ability to spell is viewed by many as one of the marks of the educated person, and the failure of a college graduate to meet that minimal standard of advanced literacy is cause to question the quality of his education or even his intelligence."--Mina Shaughnessy

Well! I suppose Ms. Shaughnessy would just absolutely croak to learn that I had to (re)learn & committ to memory how to spell "excellent" (ent/ant--so confusing) so that I could mark student papers my first year of teaching! LOL! and "college" (no "d"??). . . and "analysis" . . . "intelligence"(ence/ance) . . . ect. But I've never had trouble with words like epistemology or dichotomy or dialogical or implicit/explicit . . . Did she enjoy popping my "myth" bubble?? . . . I guess I ought to spell check this post:

"boy scout" is 2 words; "commit" has one "t." Got it. Till next time. What a drag.