In one of my Promise classes recently, I read through The Great Gatsby with a Korean teenager. If you ever want to appreciate genius sentences, read a book with an ESL student. It was quite a wonderful experience.


In other creative endevors, I think the Dreams teacher I volunteer with has made me his special project, as in "If Allison can improve, this whole class can improve." We've been printmaking owls, and while my first one looked like a penguin, the second one (pictured here) came out a little better. My first (completed) art project in about ten years!

Totally hanging on my fridge.

My little writing helper. (note: this isn't my dog, but she loves me anyway.)

In the spirit of the Olympics, a story about Canada.

In Australia, my favorite professor was a Canadian, and we got together occasionally to talk about Australian culture/literature/religion. He said that once in Canada, he had been standing on a street corner, attempting to cross the street. Although no cars were coming, the "Do Not Cross" sign was blinking, so the group of Canadians stood on their side road, obediently waiting on the light to change.

A Kiwi looked at the empty street, looked at the group of Canadians and said, "I'm from New Zealand, and I know sheep when I see them." He proceeded to safely cross the road.

Oh Canada, the country with as many people as California.
(Is this really Canada in this picture? you may ask. Well, no. It's just Canada's corner of Epcot.)

In the mall today, I overheard the comment "It's like he was Michael Jordan, and you are Charlie Sheen." This was apparently very funny, as all three guys listening burst out in laughter.

It's troubled me since then. How are those two men related? The best I can come up with is they both had martial problems, but surely you could keep the analogy going with another actor or sports figure. That's what I would call a mixed simile. Yes, the celebrity figurative language police are on the prowl.

The reason I was in the mall was to buy Tim's Valentine gift, which I have to admit, was partly something I wanted too. But he's cooking tomorrow night, which is something that he'll enjoy the fruits of too, so I felt somewhat justified. And there is an amazing popcorn store in the mall that has a kajillion different popcorn flavors, like jalapeno ranch, and Parmesan garlic, and what says "I love you" like loaded baked potato popcorn?

UPDATE: Tim just informed me Sheen and Jordan are in a Hanes commercial together, so it's not as odd as I thought.

As a perfectionist, it can be hard to take risks. But I'm working on it.

Last night, I got to hear two of the Greensboro Four speak. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth's sit-in.

In 07, I also got to hear the Little Rock Seven speak, on the 50th anniversary of Central's High School's integration. Jesse Jackson was there too. How lucky I feel to have seen the Civil Rights celebrities!

It always amazes me how far we've come as a country in 50 years. Of course, we have a long ways to go, but what a change one generation can make!

As Dr. Richman said, "If the dream is big enough, the facts don't matter."