Back on July 14, I blogged about. . .

. . .two poems by William Carlos Williams including "So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain beside the white chickens."  I was watching a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" repeat today, and the contestant won $100,000, because he knew that the "white chickens" were beside the "red wheelbarrow."  I'm sure that's a lot more money than William Carlos Williams ever earned for his poetry.  Have you noticed how no one on "Who Wants to be A Millionaire" ever gets close to winning a million dollars? I think it should be called "Who Wants to be A Twenty-Five Thousand Dollaraire."

Another brief observation:  If you read the right wing comic strip "Mallard Fillmore" you know that he has recently been attacking public education.  Sometimes, "Mallard" is really on and funny.  For me, most often he isn't.  I'm sure that's how "Mallard" readers feel about "Doonesbury."  Anyway, yesterday's comic involved a father trying to get his son acclimated to public school by looking down his nose at him and shouting, "People!"  In 33 years of teaching, I don't think I ever called a class "people."  "You guys," "ladies and gentleman," "everybody be quiet," statements like that, but never "people!"  I think "people" might be an elementary school call to order.  That's all.