my only swerving

on the way home from work tonight, in the very dark, very icy way through the golf course, i had to slow my roll considerably because of blue and red flashing lights, a police cruiser straddled the middle of huron with brights shining on the steaming carcass of a deer. i think it was not pregnant like one of my all time favorite poems.

no less than three people used multiple forms of communication to alert me to the loss of anna nicole smith.

i invited (read required) the students in my african american studies class to bring examples of their favorite pieces of excellent writing. we sat in an ellipse and they read very brief pieces aloud and explained where they first encountered it, why they liked it, and what they thought was excellent about it. a range of pieces here... toni morrison, martin page, ralph waldo emerson, sister souljah, langston hughes, tupac shakur, john lennon, proverbs, and something cloying called the applause of heaven. i made them listen to sarah vowell's brilliant essay on rosa parks, "reruns at the back of the bus." it ended up being a great session, i think, because each person identified specific details that they liked about their passages...argumentation, structure, metaphors, simplicity. it was good. there was also something really fun about hearing each person talk about reading and writing they savor. they mostly rose to the occasion. even the few who didn't bring anything because they missed the beginning of class on tuesday.


sarah thinks that my arm pit rash is the same kind of herpes that is preventing minnesota's wrestlers from continuing their season. she told me that there was too much skin to skin contact. let's be clear there has not been too much skin on skin contact on my arm pits.

tomorrow i will try to remember to report on the eatonville panel for local public school teachers i was on last night at the university michigan museum of art. well that's it really it was great i was on the panel with maria and jackie, two colleagues. we hadn't prepared together or even ever collaborated, but the teachers were thrilled and effusive and smart and wonderful. i like it when we in 12+ education get to work with K-12.