Weblog » Archives » September 2006

  • When I was a child, we would sleep in the library

    a meme frome caraBooks I loved when I was a kid, and still do Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice SendakThe Princess and the Goblins by George MacDonaldA Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied His Horse to Me by …
  • Iraq

    Shane is speaking with a bishop after a service at a Baghdad church in March 2003, just before the American invasion: The bishop went on to tell me that the church in the Middle East was deeply concerned about the chur…
  • cultural values

    "What does the term soccer mom mean?" asks S, a Thai student.Good question. I walk the class through it. In America, even though soccer isn't a popular professional sport, it's a very popular children's sport. Childre…
  • rumors & hearsay

    When I was a kid, every three months we would make the two-day trek to Nairobi and spend two weeks there doing business, shopping, and R & R. Then we'd drive back up to the desert.The last outpost before you hit the…
  • despair & not

    This time two weeks ago I was in my office at midnight, making war on a Pulaar problem that I ultimately realized I didn't have the data for: documenting the language's phonological system. I was exhausted and frustrate…
  • Senior Year 1999

    Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be. Change the subject to the year you graduated. 1. Who was your best friend?All of us in the dorm were a ti…
  • Memory Meme

    If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad -- BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE. …
  • canine courage

    I loathe the people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves. -- J. August Strindberg
  • Don't you know me? I'm your native son.

    Singular "they": God said it, I believe it, that settles it. LanguageLog.org and Better Bibles Blog track the venerable history of the "singular they" in the English language. You know what I mean. Using "they" as…
  • Ελληνικός

    **update: happy Ethiopian New Year. who knew?** At what point in life did ten hours seem like a reasonable-- and certainly not excessive-- amount of time to spend on a single homework assignment? And at what poi…
  • the old town

    igziabher yimmesgen Whether this kid can survive another semester of grad school is once again an up-for-grabs question and not much fun. But he recalls the past March, returning to Los Angeles and visiting St. Ma…
  • early in each semester, I panic and decide I just can't go on any more. Well, I tell myself, can't let my students down. I'll stick it out to the end of the semester. By the end of the semester I figure, well made…
  • Wallace Tripp

    As I was standing in the street As quiet as could be, A great big ugly man came up And tied his horse to me. I eat my peas with honey. I've done it all my life. It does taste kind of funny, But it keeps them on …
  • Religious Shit

    for the third (or so) time:TAOISM: Shit happens.CONFUCIANISM: Confucius say shit happens.HARE KRISHNA: Shit happens rama ramaCALVINISM: Shit won't happen if I work harder.JUDAISM: Why does shit always happen …
  • What We Get

    I waited for a silence with its boards stripped off, its sills pried away, all glasswork, all September light with no latch. And when it came, sometimes it was easy to think of nothing at all, have no question at …
  • elections

    Yesterday I failed to be a responsible citizen. I could have participated, yesterday, in the election of a judge and two school board members. Criminal justice and education-- two matters that are notorious problem…
  • the garden

    I don't believe my backyard has ever been cultivated before. So loosening up the soil became an adventure. First of destruction, of cutting and moving countless roots-- including one thick as my leg and ten feet l…

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