Contrary to Popular Opinion...

...ESL does not simply mean English as a Second Language.

It also stands for Lynn Truss's classic book about the power of punctuation. I've heard this one before, but let's review for nostalgia's sake:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
So punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.

I have, of course, my opinion about how far to the "grammar police" spectrum we should go, but she makes a valid point.

http://eatsshootsandleaves.com/esl.html

Ta,
Beckie

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey...should've been on there, too

Dear Internet,

I just spent the last 79:59 minutes listening to a mix CD I made for my sister years ago. I called it "inspiration" because music is so.... imploring. It's pretty incredible. Thought I'd share it with you.

Love,
Beckie

1- Believe by Yellowcard
"Everything is gonna be alright, be strong, believe!"
2- Hold On by Good Charlotte
"If you feel like letting go, hold on. It gets better than you know."
3- The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
"It just takes some time, little girl...everything will be alright."
4- My Reply by Ataris
"If you just hold on for one more second, just hold one to what you are..."
5- Don't Give Up by Eagle-Eye Cherry
"Never give up, we won't stop giving all we got..."
6- Don't Let Go by Weezer
"Whooaa...Don't let go."
7- For Nancy by Pete Yorn
"Convince yourself that everything is alright...'cuz it already is!"
8- Dare You To Move by Switchfoot
"Lift yourself, lift yourself up off the floor!"
9- Walk On (nigel godrich remix) by U2
"If your glass heart should crack, and for a second you look back, no... be strong!"
10- Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield
"Your folks might understand you, by and by...just move on up, follow your dreaming..."
11- With A Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles
"Are you sad cause you're on your own? No, I get by..."
12- Feelin' Fine by Three Brave Woodsman
"When I step outside the world becomes my home..."
13- Shine by Collective Soul
"Will love be there? Heaven let your light shine down."
14- Still Fighting It by Ben Folds
"Everybody knows it sucks to grow up. But everybody does."
15- Everyday by Dave Matthews
"Pick me up, love, from the bottom, up on to the top, love, everyday."
16- Getting Better by The Beatles
"I used to get mad at my school. Now I can't complain..."
17- Only If... by Enya
"When there's a shadow, you reach for the sun."
18- Shine by Tracy Bonham
"You must not forget how much light you bring..."
19- Everything's Not Lost by Coldplay

"Blogging is like Facebook, except real."

Someone told that to me today, so I thought I'd attempt a jaunt from the warm confines of Facebookland into "reality."

Brrr. It's cold out here.

Seems the world of blogs is much more introspective and a lot less gossipy. And you end up with fewer poke-bruises.

You know, sometimes I'd love to quit Facebook all together, but besides the fact that it's still apparently impossible to do, I just don't have the heart. Pity stays my hand. (Or is it addiction? I hear they want to eat our babies!)

My newest resolution? Give up Facebook for Lent. Incidentally, I'm giving up Lent as well. So let's just call it a Facebook Fast for the next two weeks. With my blog as witness, I shall not log in again until, at least, March 2. Savvy? Savvy.

You better keep me to it.

Instructional Architect

You know, I'd never heard of this program before this class. But now I have. And I like it. Here's our first try on this teaching tool known as IA:

http://ia.usu.edu/viewproject.php?project=ia:5345

Explanation

I was thinking that our little horror film needed an explanation. It came as an assignment in class: Get a partner, take a camera, and go film something, hopefully related to your subject area. You have a half-hour. Go.

So, being English majors, my partner and I headed towards the library. And we . . . filmed stuff. It was only later, in "post," that we decided what it was going to be about. Once we stuck those shaky and old-timey filters on the library shot, we realized it was a scary movie. So we edited the rest to be such.

It started out a "how-to" movie for using the library, and ended up . . . very entertaining.

Well, we laughed a lot as we were making it, anyway. And in the end, isn't that what matters?

The Joy of Making Movies

The movie we made for class! It's not much, but it's ours.

Oh, and by the way, we got an A.

INST 3500 Course Assignment

First off, here's a nice background for a lesson on figurative language--and by background, I literally mean background.

And as for this course, I’m a huge fan. I’m a big supporter of the “learning by doing” method, especially when it comes to technology. The way the class is set up allows for a lot of hands on, creative work that we can individually adapt to our content areas. Basically, I feel like I get to do my own work while learning a lot of new programs and operating systems. The one improvement I suggest would be to have it a little more clearly stated in class what we are required to do—exactly what assignments are due when, etc., especially because it appears the original expectations have changed. This could be fixed by a single clear explanation in class. On the whole, I am enjoying and benefiting greatly from this course!