Hello all! I haven't posted or commented much lately, but you should know that I do enjoy reading what everyone else has to say. I feel so blessed that, even though I live far away from many people I love, technology has allowed me to have a little window into their everyday lives. (Lest you misunderstand, this doesn't mean I prefer reading your updates to being with you in person. Come see me! RIGHT NOW!)

Lately, I've been learning more about where our food comes from by listening to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I haven't finished the book yet, so I haven't arrived at any solid conclusions about what he has to say. However, it's already gotten me thinking about revising my eating habits a bit! I used to think all those organic/vegetarian/vegan eaters were nuts, but it really has given me pause to consider the ways in which our current food system doesn't make much economic/biological sense. That, and it's really freaky to find out all the weird and gross things that go into our food!

I've started testing the waters of alternative food just to see what life is like, and it's been interesting! (I'm using the term "alternative food" very loosely. I seriously doubt that I'm going to completely overhaul my diet. The general goal here, for now, is just to try cutting down on processed foods and meat.) I've already discovered that I can go for nearly a week without meat and not miss it too much thanks to the magic of legumes. I've learned that organic produce is DELICIOUS and blows away the regular grocery store stuff. And I've enjoyed the vague sense of European-ness that has arisen when I've munched on plain bread and cheese instead of more sodium- and sugar-laden sides.

On the other hand, it has become quite evident that organic food is EXPENSIVE!!!! And on top of that, I've found it very difficult to come up with nutritious, filling meals when 1) I have very little time to cook and 2) have to pack the majority of my lunches, dinners, and snacks and eat them at school.

All that to say ... Do you have any favorite healthy foods/meals that are 1) cheap, 2) filling, and 3) easy?

Most of you who have ever been stuck in my company for any extended period of time know that I tend to to pepper my conversations with allusions. Many of the statements people make, or the actions they perform, or the situations in which they find themselves remind me of movie scenes, song lyrics, and quotes from books, and I often feel the need to share the connection I've made (much to the annoyance of my companions).

So here's how my brain works:
- large group of people engaged in overlapping, quirky conversations = that one scene from While You Were Sleeping when Peter's crazy family is eating Christmas dinner and talking about the most random things ("These mashed potatoes are so creamy!")
- when I know there's an opening for a joke but I just can't think of anything funny (an all-too-frequent occurrence when you're me) = the first episode of The Office when Michael wants to join in on Jim and Ryan's puns but offers too little, too late ("Pudding ... pudding ...")

There are other pop-culture sorts of moments that really stick with me because they either set me on the path to realizing some great truth in life, or they summed that truth up really well after I started thinking about it.

For instance:
- the fact that life looks different from another person's perspective = a great chapter from The Phantom Tollbooth (okay, the whole book is great, actually) where one of the characters says something to this effect: "What looks like a bucket of water to us may be a cool drink to an elephant, and to a fish, it's home."
- the folly of pursuing high self-esteem for its own sake = a scene from Spanglish where the spoiled, self-absorbed daughter who has just been chewed out by her mom exclaims something like, "Mother, now you've done it-- you've gone and made me HATE myself!" to which her mom replies, "Honey, these days your low self-esteem is just good common sense."

When I think about all of the little connections that help make up my thought patterns, it almost seems that I could, theoretically, sum up my personality and philosophy using a set of quotes and images (speaking of being self-absorbed!). I'm wondering if everyone does this, or if it's a *my generation* thing (ooh! song reference!), or if it's a *weird Allison* thing.

So! What are one or two little snippets from movies/books/songs that tend to pop into your mind in certain situations, and why?

Go.

If my status box on Facebook had enough room in it, here's what it would say:

"ALLISON MATTHEWS is mourning the loss of her good friend, the apostrophe. It seems to have vanished from fine, upstanding possessive nouns and contractions-- including, notably, that of "it" and "is." To make matters worse, the last few members of this dwindling species gallivant about with plural nouns and assault poor "hers" and "its" to no end. Let us observe a moment of silence for this sadly misused bit of punctuation. Or, better yet, Let's."

My flesh crawls enough when I see the frequent cases of punctuational abuse in students' papers, or in messages from my colleagues and acquaintances. But I just started reading a book that's filled with apostrophe-related errors! A book! As in, it's been chosen by a publisher, edited, and presumably reviewed several times before public release! Granted, it's a small, low-budget sort of production ... but that's certainly no excuse.

Look: We may be able to limp along for decades to come, ignorant of the conventions of our fascinating tongue, and still manage to get points across relatively successfully. But at what price, comrades? To save a few minutes of study and a few seconds of typing, we're sacrificing linguistic standards, clarity of communication, and-- one might argue-- clarity of thought. If that's not convincing, consider the fact that, at some point in your life, you likely will be called upon to engage in some form of writing less casual than an e-mail: a cover letter for a job application, a letter to the editor of a newspaper, a PowerPoint presentation, or perhaps even a book. If the person reading this product of yours observes that you have grievously mistreated an apostrophe, you may well lose credibility in the eyes of said reader. If the reader happens to be yours truly, you may well lose credibility-- and gain a few rolls of toilet paper strewn about your property.

My goal here is not to depress anyone's spirits or to stir up wild rebellions in the ranks of mild-mannered English teachers. I simply desire to raise awareness about a troubling trend that's taking over our language. So, pause to reflect for a moment. Have you hugged an apostrophe today? Or, more to the point, have you SEEN an apostrophe today? If you haven't-- or if you know someone who's struggling with punctuational abuse or neglect-- please know that there's help out there. Just consult any of the excellent usage books by Lynn Truss, such as The Girl's Like Spaghetti. Patricia T. O'Conner's Woe Is I would do the trick nicely, as well. Don't forget all those mild-mannered English teachers, either; any one of them would, I'm sure, be willing to help. In any case, recovery begins when you can admit that "youve got a problem." I wish you success-- it will save me from having to buy all of that toilet paper.

Next week, I'll dedicate my post to those annoying people who complain about grammar and usage all the time and equate comma splices with nuclear warfare. Stay tuned!

Remember that scene in the glorious 1994 film adaptation of Little Women in which Jo meets Professor Bhaer for the first time? She's awkwardly drinking strong coffee with him as the muddied pages of her latest story dry by the fire. Things are moving rather slowly until she notices the piles of books that crowd his apartment. When she inquires as to their provenance (how was that, Jonathan?), he responds in his gentle German accent, "Most of these I could not bear to leave behind. I sold everything that I owned to buy my passage to come here, but my books? Never."

Scoff if you will, all you diehard pragmatists out there, but Professor Bhaer's bibliophilia (or bibliophilism, if you prefer) is a key factor in his placement near the top of my List of Fictitious Characters I Wish Were Real. In fact, his appreciation for the written word is so striking to me that I took a page out of his book (guffaw!) as I prepared for my move. If I'm remembering correctly, my book collection took up 8 or 9 boxes when I packed it away, and I was intent on bringing all of them with me to my new abode. As it happened, two boxes of novels had to be left behind until October due to space constraints, but, still-- what a marvelous array of old friends to accompany one to an unfamiliar place!

I like to save the best pleasures for last. I eat pie slices backwards because the crust isn't as interesting as the tip. I eat all the little oaty shapes in my Lucky Charms before the marshmallows. I sometimes even get up extra-early so I can take one last little nap before I leave the house. And, when it was time to move in last week, I waited until everything else was unpacked and put away to get my books settled in. I started by giving them a cozy new home: the immense, cheap particle board bookcase I inherited from my big brother had suffered some damage during the morning's drizzle, so I covered the faux wood on the back panel with some darling striped shelf paper. This made each shelf perfectly outfitted for its new residents-- religion on the top level, followed by picture books and poetry, then anthologies, magazines, and puzzles, then a wide range of non-fiction and reference books. The bottom shelf grounds the whole collection, as it contains all of my literacy-related teaching materials, notes, and textbooks-- a reminder that the joy and knowledge I derive from reading can be passed on to future generations. (Conveniently, that category also has the heaviest books, which will keep the case from teetering backward ...)

It was such a pleasure to watch my shelves fill with books, because each one I slid into place held a memory of a dear friend or a lesson learned. There are the books I found for a steal when my partner-in-educational-crime, Priscilla Thompson, introduced me to garage-saling. There's Milk and Cookies, by Frank Asch, a book that I shared with my Uncle Tim and Aunt Dorthy each year when I went to visit them as a little girl. There's the much-ridiculed Bathroom Trivia Book, which is a silly sort of source to cite, but which nevertheless has allowed me to enthrall countless people with the fact that John Wayne had an 18-inch neck. (I mean, seriously! Did YOU know that?) I see Potatoes, Potatoes (sent to me on a whim all the way from California by my first roommate) next to Lola at the Library (a Christmas present from my most recent roommate). And, inexplicably, 4 copies of Where the Wild Things Are, each with its own reason for being there (rendering the 4 copies thing ... explicable, I suppose. But that's not as fun to say). I can't even enumerate all the stories that remind me of my parents, who read with me and then passed on so many literary treasures so that I'll have something to share with my own students and children one day. Although I will state, for the record, that the most recent addition (and edition) from my folks was The Little Engine That Could-- how perfect for someone who is timidly testing the waters in a new school and community!

I'll spare you further details, since I'm pretty sure I crossed the TMI line paragraphs ago. Suffice it to say that, in this brief period before I've made many local friends and begun the work for which I came to Nashville, my books have served as odd little comforters to me, reminding me of past delights and promising plenty more to come. I could go on about how happy that makes me, but, you know ... I could write a book.


ps- I just made a little Pleonast room where a picture of my adorable bookcase can live ... I just have no idea how to put it on here. So that makes me ... a technologically inept nerd? Is that possible?

New experiences from the past 3 months:
- finishing my B.S. degree
- visiting France and Italy
- watching far, far too many episodes of Heroes, Chuck, and The Office
- transforming into Atomic Allie, the Mad Scientist (yeeeah, I taught science camp ... don't even pretend to be surprised that I had such a nerdy summer job) for 2 weeks as an assistant and 1 week as the MAIN teacher for 18 students in 1st-3rd grade
- taking my very own personal road trip to PA
- receiving my Florida teaching license in the mail
- discovering that one can visit with a surprising number of dear friends and relatives, and get to know new ones, in one season
- arranging a piece of music so it can be sung in 4-part harmony
- learning various and sundry useful skills, including how to make sweet tea, use a grill, roll-start a car, and shoot a pistol and shotgun (one at a time, I mean ... I haven't quite gotten the Rambo thing down yet. Or the hitting the target instead of the ground thing, for that matter.)

New experiences I hope to add to the list in the next year or so:
- moving to, exploring, and settling into a different city (I'm hitting the road to Nashville later this week!)
- trying to move beyond "guppy" status in a rather large pond
- learning more about how to help struggling readers
- learning more about how to help the struggling public school system
- learning Italian
- visiting a shooting range every once in a while (not that I'm applying for NRA membership or anything ... it just seems like a handy thing to know, even if one isn't planning on becoming a mobster)
- busting out my fiddle and really getting the hang of it
- catching the Avett Brothers, Andrew Bird, and perhaps other fun musicians when they come through town
- meeting, getting to know, and trying to serve a whole new set of people (while still, hopefully, keeping in touch with the ones I already know and love!)

What's on your list?