Happy Halloween!

It's probably not fair that I dress Rusty up for Halloween, especially considering that I don't dress up myself- but thems the breaks...



In case you can't tell- he is a fish, though it kind of looks like he is being eaten by a fish.



And here he is curling up for a nap on his costume- so it serves two purposes- how handy!

Grover

(BTW- I changed the design of my blog so I could widen the posts and you would be able to see entire clips instead of having the sides cut off- what do you think of the new design??)

A friend posted this on Facebook- I love it and had to share. Hopefully Robin will see this as Grover was always her favorite!



The inspiration for Sesame Street's clip...

Kill Devil Hills

My sister has been in town and I decided to drag her to North Carolina while she was here (she went willingly). I have been meaning to explore more of the East Coast since I moved here and have failed miserably- I really need to get out more. And recently a friend mentioned the Outer Banks and there was a lot of news coverage of it during Hurricane Earl- so that's where I decided to go. It wasn't really the best time to go to the beach as there was a fairly massive rainstorm yesterday and today but it was still beautiful. Here are some pictures....

Stop It!

My sister, who recently received an APC- which stands for Associate Professional Counselor, recommended this video- apparently this clip was shown in several of her classes. And, since I love Bob Newhart, I decided to share it and encourage you to take his advice.

Little Red Riding Hood

I recently posted a video of Swing Shift Cinderella here and my friend Katie asked if i had read the book Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked- I hadn't, but i recently got the book and just started reading it. Every time i see the title I get the Little Red Riding Hood song stuck in my head and, as I only know one line of it, it was getting quite annoying. So this morning I finally decided to look for the song so that at least I would know more of the lines when it got stuck in my head and I came across this amazing video on youtube of an old Betty Boop cartoon put to the song. It seemed perfect because I had recently been talking to another friend who is teaching a film class and is using Betty Boop cartoons in the class and had just sent me an article on Betty Boop. Anyway, I figured I'd share the clip here- it's amazing what they could get away with in cartoons in 1931!

Bronte Sisters!

A friend posted this on Facebook- I had to share.

Nothing exciting to report

I've been somewhat busy but also not doing anything exciting. The online class I am teaching is mostly grading (and least it feels that way). I do think it's a good teaching experience for me even though I have mixed feelings about it. I am a little grateful that the first time I have to deal with some of the unpleasant aspects of teaching have been done online instead of in person. For example, I am glad that the first time a student swore at me it wasn't face-to-face and that I had time to think about my response before I sent it. I've also been dealing with some plagiarism, which has been eye-opening. I read a recent New York Times article that referred to the students now entering college as 'generation plagiarism.' It was disheartening, apparently students don't feel like they have to cite sources that have more than one author or a anonymous author- such as articles on wikipedia. This seems ridiculous to me. The papers you write are supposed to be your work- if it isn't your words you have to cite it- why is this so hard to understand? I don't care who wrote something if it isn't you- you shouldn't put your name on it. Period.

I feel like I should print a huge disclaimer on all of my syllabi, something like- I HATE CHEATERS, IF YOU CHEAT I WILL NAIL YOU TO THE WALL. Sadly I doubt this will discourage everyone. I think students delude themselves into thinking they can get away with it.

On the bright side- Rusty is awesome and cheers me up when the cheaters in the world get me down.