Thoughts from our nation's next generation . . .

Everyone makes stupid mistakes and says stupid stuff don't they? I know they do. I had the esteemed pleasure of reading over 700 tests for my American History classes this semester. I thought it would be interesting to post a few of the statements I have received from my students during my first semester teaching at ASU. While I know that everyone is not a master of American history, I did expect a little more eloquence from future college graduates. This is just a snippet. I have many more of varying degrees of humor and utter ignorance.

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On Columbus:

He was a man who set out to prove that the world was flat and not round and that you could fall off the edge of it if you weren't careful. He took off sailing and eventually made it to this place called the new world. When he got there he drew a map. While he was looking at the map he realized that the world was not flat and that you couldn't fall off of it while you were sailing around in the ocean.

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On Native American gender roles

Some men were dressed as women but others just stayed men.

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Robber Barons:

During the late 1800s there was this guy named Robert Baron. He was really greedy and tried to take all the money for himself. He shut down a bunch of companies. Robert Baron was not a very nice person. I wouldn't like Robert Baron.

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On Rosa Parks:

Rosa Parks was the first woman to ever have a prostate.

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This is but a small slice of the true genius that presented itself during the course of the Fall 2008 semester. Stay tuned for more and better pearls of wisdom.

Mark Twain: A National Treasure

I recently saw a quote from Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) and re-realized just how quick witted and humorous he was and still is. Some people can take words and construct them into the most amazingly beautiful sentences. With just a few short words, they can, with razor sharp efficiency, write what would take me pages and ages to produce. So for your reading pleasure, I give you a random sampling of some of Mark Twain's best stuff!


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Courtship lifts a young fellow far and away above his common earthly self and by an impulse natural to those lofty regions he puts on his halo and his heavenly war paint and plays archangel as if he were born to it. He is working a deception, but is not aware of it.- "Which Was the Dream"The romance of life is the only part of it which is overwhelmingly valuable, and romance dies with youth. After that, life is a drudge, & indeed a sham.- Letter to Will Bowen, 6/6/1900

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Total abstinence is so excellent a thing that it cannot be carried to too great an extent. In my passion for it I even carry it so far as to totally abstain from total abstinence itself.

- autograph inscription in album to Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes, reported in The Washington Post, June 11, 1881
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The romance of life is the only part of it which is overwhelmingly valuable, and romance dies with youth. After that, life is a drudge, & indeed a sham.

- Letter to Will Bowen, 6/6/1900
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We are all erring creatures, and mainly idiots, but God made us so and it is dangerous to criticise.

- Letter to the President of Western Union, New York, 1902
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would rather have my ignorance than another man's knowledge, because I have so much more of it.

- Letter to W.D. Howells, 2/10/1875
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All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.

- Mark Twain's Autobiography
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After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.
- "Adam's Diary"
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There is in life only one moment and in eternity only one. It is so brief that it is represented by the fleeting of a luminous mote through the thin ray of sunlight--and it is visible but a fraction of a second. The moments that preceded it have been lived, are forgotten and are without value; the moments that have not been lived have no existence and will have no value except in the moment that each shall be lived. While you are asleep you are dead; and whether you stay dead an hour or a billion years the time to you is the same.

- Mark Twain's Notebook, 1896
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The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.

- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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The Impartial Friend: Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all--the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.- Mark Twain, last written statement; Moments with Mark Twain, Paine
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A nation turns it's lonley eyes to you. woo woo woo

Alas . . .

Booking it-Honesty

On my mother's blog (www.pointedmeanderings.blogspot.com) she answers the question of the week. I thought I'd give it a shot and see how it turns out.

Question of the Week:
I receive a lot of review books, but I have never once told lies about the book just because I got a free copy of it. However, some authors seem to feel that if they send you a copy of their book for free, you should give it a positive review.

Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book, even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy authors who get negative reviews?

Absolutely not! Under no circumstances should anyone ever offer up a review that is untruthful simply to appease or stroke the ego of some aspiring author. One of the blessings of living in this country lies within our 1st Amendment right under the United States Constitution. In short, it gives us freedom of speech, press, religion, and the right to assemble. The aspiring author operates under this amendment to write whatever he/she chooses. Under that same write, those who would review that work have the right and an obligation to review that information honestly. Appeasement, throughout history, has seldom turned out positively for those doing the appeasing.

We, as a society, have taken political correctness to the point that Hitler took Germany and Stalin took Russia. Well maybe not that far, but we certainly put more stock in what people think that we do the truth. Sadly enough, behavior similar to this extends far beyond the realm of book reviews and into the employment sector. Supervisors routinely offer individuals glowing employment references simply to ensure that they leave and go elsewhere. Instead of having the courage to stand up and dismiss them for service or provide them a reference consisting of the truth. The truth hurts, but reviewers should step up to the plate and do the right thing.

Friends don't' let friends read bad books unaware!

The Cabinet

Today President-elect Obama made several announcements regarding his cabinet appointments. So far he has assembled not quite half of his cabinet officers and has among them some highly qualified individuals, including Hilary Clinton at State. Obama went on to say, "I am confident that this is the team that we need to make a new beginning for American national security." While some may cringe at the thought of Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State, I find comfort in her appointment. Hilary is definitely an accomplished politician who will undoubtedly display excellent diplomatic skills combined with "extraordinary intelligence and toughness."

Among the other appointees are Sec. of Defense Robert Gates who will remain at his post in the Defense Department and General Jim Jones (USMC ret). Obama had promised to appoint a Republican to his cabinet and Gates is an excellent choice for many reasons. Not only has he done a tremendous job since replacing Donald Rumsfeld, he also stands as a member of the cabinet respected equally among Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. He will also provide the defense department with a sense of continuity as they sort through Iraq and Afghanistan. Jones, a fervent supporter of John McCain in the past presidential election, has been given the National Security Advisor slot. The former NATO commander gained attention for his skills as a military commander as well as his diplomatic prowess. Obama's advisors stated they did not consider political affiliation while assembling the team.

It would seem that Obama is attempting to round out his cabinet to appeal to both sides of the aisle. Could this thing called compromise actually work? Only if we as the people let it. Both sides scream incessantly for compromise and then, once achieved, complain about the choices and how it will be detrimental to their party. Nodoby likes to make concessions, but they often constitute a necessary evil. Liberal blogger Chris Bowers refers to Obama's decision as "very disappointing" and further stayed it sent a message to the American people that "even Democrats believe Democrats can't run the military." Maybe he's right . . .


If you would like to read more concerning Obama's appointments you can follow this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/01/obama-unveils-national-security-team/