"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Fighting for hearts and minds
A friend posted a nasty little joke photo to Facebook. No, not the one on the left, which is just one of many anti-Michelle Obama images I found on the net. His showed Lucy and Ricky facing each other with caption balloons above their heads. Lucy: “The doctor says I can’t have sex for six […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books. My local school district in Tucson, Arizona is at the center of a growing national and international scandal over the racially-motivated confiscation and banning of textbooks, novels, and plays. I wrote about the district’s actions here and here. To reach […]
Two days ago I wrote about the cancellation of Mexican American and Native American Studies classes in Tucson high schools, and the large-scale book banning that followed. Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) officials confiscated books and other materials used in the cancelled classes, boxed them, and shipped them to a storage facility. Local, national, and […]
In May 2010 Arizona banned the teaching of ethnic studies in the state’s public school classrooms, specifically targeting Mexican-American and Native American studies. The new law forbid elementary and secondary schools to conduct classes “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or that advocated “the overthrow of the United States government” and “resentment […]
When I grew up merchants and advertisers respected non-Christian customers by using Xmas instead of Christmas. Today, Xmas has been replaced by “the holidays.” That’s the spirit in which I use the word, to acknowledge the fact that, in the words of President Obama, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus […]
It’s been overcast, rainy, and gloomy outside since I rolled out of bed this morning. The payoff came a few minutes ago with this, the first sunlight of the day … and just in time for sunset! I’m told there’s snow higher up on the Santa Catalinas, but from where we live it’s still hidden […]
We’re spending Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with our son and his family. We won’t hit the road until next Wednesday … which means we weren’t there yesterday for our grandson Quentin’s 9th birthday. Gregory and Beth hired an animal wrangler to entertain Quentin and his guests. What a great idea! There were snakes, snapping turtles, […]
One Friday night, back when buffalo wings first became popular, I decided to make them at home. After cutting the wings, I breaded them by shaking them in a paper grocery bag filled with flour, a little paprika, some salt, and pinch or two of powdered cayenne. Then I deep-fried the wings and dipped them […]