SPELLING BEE
Every year for decades on the last day of school before Thanksgiving, I would surprise my students with a "pop quiz" of sorts. I would tell them that they seemed symptomatic of "senioritis" far earlier than anticipated, and that I was getting a little tired of their "uppity" attitude. Here was a quiz that would bring them back to earth. Some moaned when they heard it was a spelling test, but others, having won spelling bees throughout their childhoods, awaited the quiz with
THIS IS WHERE WE CAME IN
The title of this post was once a common expression now lost forever. It had to do with going to the movies, which people did once or twice a week back in the early days of the Sound period. But going to the movies back in the day was a very different experience from that of today. If I want to go see, let's say Spider-Man: Brand New Day (which is currently dominating the box office), I'd probably look it up on Fandango and find a theatre near me that is playing it. No dou
HEMINGWAY PART 1
In the January cold of 2016, I escorted my AP students to NYC to visit the Morgan Library. We then headed to Broadway for a production...
YOU ARE WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE
Back in 2013, the New York Times published a dialect quiz that I passed along to my students most years. Most of my charges were...
FUN AND GAMES
When I watch my grandchildren, or really any kids at all, I am often amazed at how sophisticated (even jaded at times) they are. They...
MYSTIC FROM THE EAST
My son, Devin, is the authority on all things comic. He has spent much of his life examining the stylings of a variety of comics, from...
WORDSWORDSWORDS#13 (Begging the Question)
Last week, Washington Post columnist Mark Lasswell penned a language column about a long-abused phrase- begging the question . My...
CRYPTOQUOTE
When I was a ninth-grader, I devoured books--often completing a book a day, if not more. Of course, as was my practice, I didn't always...
The Popular Song: AM I BLUE?
Recently I screened a 1929 film musical titled On With the Show and was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of a wonderful song that I...
FLY PAPER
When I taught my Cinema Studies elective classes, I would always devote time to one of Buster Keaton's masterpieces--Sherlock, Jr. Early...
