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Wait…the Walt Whitman mall?  For real?  Would he shop at Gap or Banana Republic?

thebronzemedal:

Photo of the exterior of the Walt Whitman mall, on Long Island. Do you think the guy installing that giant McDonald’s “M” cared that he was covering up the work of the mall’s namesake? Would Whitman have cared? More importantly , would Walt have been a partisan of the Big Mac™ or the Whopper™?

my husband, looking over my shoulder while I scroll through my Tumblr dashboard.

You gotta love finding something like this in the top of your classroom’s recycling bin.

1 grape white out (?)

2 mango blunt wraps

2 strawberry blunt wraps

So I keep reading all of this stuff online today about the new iPad is okay, has a crappy name, blah blah blah…

The thing is, if any of these naysayers was handed an iPad, they’d get all misty-eyed and start babbling and petting.  All gentle and reverent.

That’s the strangest thing about the new touchscreen craze—it makes for masses of people staring down at tiny glowing screens, deftly tapping and petting…I can’t help but think my precious, my precious…

Yes.  I’m jealous.

peterwknox:

hilker:

How to use a semicolon - The Oatmeal

Read the whole guide. It’s fantastic and the resulting poster is one that I would hang in my classroom to help distinguish me amongst students as the cool teacher that likes words but isn’t a snob about it.

As a teacher, I really appreciate things like this.

This is just wonderful.  That is all.

Andrew Bird is Dr. Stringz.  Yes ma’am.

Just two nights ago, Matthew, Kristen, and I all talked about Hemingway’s hang-up with manliness.  Interesting indeed.

peterwknox:

christmasgorilla:

Even clothing Hemingway proved difficult. When the time came to shoot what was intended to be the cover for LIFE, the author wanted to wear nothing but shorts. “’Don’t you think people want to see me like this? You know, I’m a very virile man. Look here!’ he said, pounding his chest – like King Kong,” Eisie said. “’Yeah, I see,’ I said, ‘I know you are a very strong man. But you know, for a cover, it’s better if you have a yellow shirt or something; it looks better, you know?’”

LIFE: Unpublished Photos, Old Man and the Sea

The first week back at school after a break is so tiring…It only takes two weeks to get out of the habit of planning, waking early, and then go go going for eight hours straight.  Teaching, in a way, is constant theatre—at least for me.  I pound a couple cups of coffee, and I’m off, setting the scene, asking questions, urging and nudging.  I sit down during my planning period, that’s about it.

This week, we’re talking about Dr. Faustus, the seven deadly sins, nouns, and writing short stories.  It’s been full, and good, and positive….and I’m about to keel over.

This, though, is the golden point of the weekend—Friday night, no alarm set in the morning, those quizzes that need grading are hidden from sight and mind…just two whole days of rest and freedom.

And even though there’s a part of me that feels this weird sort of accomplishment when I sign in each Friday, like I’ve checked off another day…there’s another part that will spend time over the next two days hatching all of the what-nexts of the coming week.

It’s the surprise and contradiction that keeps me at this.  New each day, urging me to dig deep into my reserves of creativity…finding that there is always More.

I’m joining the club—ask me questions here.

…don’t tell Fitz I re-blogged this…he’ll be jealous.

And seriously, when’s Clooney signing up to do this biopic?

bethlehems:

(via stephanie-leann): Hemingway developed this thing for six-toed cats after the captain of the ship he traveled to Italy on gave him one as a birthday present. Under his will, his former home in Key West, which is now a museum, houses dozens of the descendants of his cats, more than half of them being six-toed. You can even visit the museum’s web site and view photos of them.

I’ve been to the Hemingway house three or four times.  It was one of the first (and only) tourist-y things I did the first time I went to Key West and I’ve tried to go back anytime I’m there.  They won’t charge you for the tour if you tell them you just want to play with the cats!