Include Me Out, Please
I generally try to avoid the more serious political and social topics on weekends, but if I may be permitted: A remarkably stupid article appeared yesterday on the website of the Chicago Tribune newspaper. In it, the author advances a lame and not-particularly-original claim that English teachers "know" the 2nd Amendment only means we have the right to keep and bear arms if we belong to a state-run militia. Bad enough that the author's conclusion was rejected by the Supreme Court, he tries to drag teachers (and lovers) of English onto his side with a spectacularly erroneous interpretation of basic grammar.As someone who taught English for 30 years, and who has loved the language for nearly my entire life, I would respectfully ask David McGrath to stop claiming that "any high school English teacher" would agree with his politicized spin on the language of the 2nd Amendment. Speak for yourself, sir...
Don't Wait...
One of the harsher lessons Life teaches is that at some point in our lives, each of us will find ourselves wishing we had told someone we loved them just one more time...There's no way to avoid this inevitability, of course, and there is no limit to the number of times Life will teach us the lesson, but at least we have the chance to say it to that person today.
Take nothing for granted, brothers and sisters. Tell them. Tell them now...
Gadget Love: Audio Edition
Nature Love: Twilight Edition
A few days ago, someone who follows The Lucky Eat-Anter on Twitter posted the following spectacular photograph: |
| Sunset at Troon Harbor, Scotland |
I was struck by the sheer beauty of the scene, and sent the young woman a message telling her so. I also told her that we have beautiful sunsets where I live also, and shared the following image with her:
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| Sunset at The Amana Colonies, Iowa |
Words and Pictures
As someone who loves the English language in both its spoken and written forms, I've never been impressed by the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words." If you believe that's true, please draw me a picture as eloquent and powerful as the Gettysburg Address (a mere 267 words, in the so-called Bliss Copy).The popular website Reddit (which bills itself as "The Front Page of the Internet") has a group (a "subreddit," in Reddit parlance) devoted to the pairing of images and quotations. As you might expect, the quality of the submissions to the group varies quite a bit. I have seen a few submissions that brought tears to my eyes, and quite a few more that look like the creator only spent five minutes on the project. Back when I was a daily visitor to the site, I tried my hand at the format, to generally positive response. Here are a couple of my more popular submissions (others will turn up in the blog from time to time also):
Housekeeping
I wanted to mention that this blog accepts Comments. All you need to do is click on the highlighted text right next to the time stamp (it might say "1 Comment," "2 Comments," "No Comments," etc.; if it says "No Comments" that just means there haven't been any that day, not that comments are not permitted), and the Comment text box will open up. I have chosen the "Moderated" option for the Comments section, to make sure there are no bot postings, trolling, etc. But it generally doesn't take long for me to read and publish an actual comment, so please feel free to weigh in. All points of view are welcome here Beyond the Wall...I am experimenting with adding additional Gadgets to the blog also, so please bear with me as I try to make the place a bit more appealing...
Finally, I am close to adding the Archive pages for "Thought for the Day" and the weekly recommendations, for newcomers who might be interested in what was there before they found the place. Those archives should be up by Monday...
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