What's in a Name?

Tadeusz Kościuszko was a Polish military officer who fought for Poland's independence against Russia in the 18th century and who also fought for George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. Because of his service for the U.S. there are lots of things here named after him -- schools, parks, roads, etc. However, no one can pronounce his name correctly or even attempts to. In all fairness, it is quite difficult, even for someone who speaks Polish. It's pronounced KOSH-CHUSH-KO, more or less.

There is a Kościuszko bridge here in NY on the Northway leading out of Albany, although you'd hardly know it. I haven't yet heard anyone here pronounce the name. It took me months to realize that the traffic reports on the news call the bridge the "Twin Bridges" because it has two arcs and so they can avoid pronouncing his name.

Today as I was getting settled in my hotel room in L.A. I had Oprah on T.V. and I found out that she was from Kosciusko, Mississippi. However, she pronounced it KO-ZEE-U-SKO and I just about fell off the bed. Not only is that a horrible mispronounciation, but I'm sure that's how everyone in MS has been saying it for years.

So, why can't we get the guy's name right or at least try to? We manage other difficult names (e.g., Christina Aguilera) or unusual names (e.g., Barack Obama). Perhaps Kościuszko is too far buried in our history for anyone to really care. Sort of a sad legacy for a national hero.

The Great Pumpkin

Today is the 40th anniversary of The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, one of my favorite Charlie Brown shows. Linus' unwavering faith in the mythical Great Pumpkin and Sally's tenuous love for Linus have the two of them missing out on Halloween only to be visited by none other than Snoopy as the Red Barron. Poor Charlie Brown goes trick-or-treating and gets a rock instead of candy and Lucy accidentally kisses Snoopy and gets "dog germs." Top-notch entertainment in my book.

One of the reasons why I enjoy this show so much is because I simply love Halloween. I look forward to giving out candy every year and seeing the kids dressed up. Their excitement is infectious. Unfortunately, I'll be missing this ritual this year because I'll be in L.A. for a criminology conference. I wasn't looking forward to this conference to begin with and the fact that it has ruined Halloween for me doesn't improve my attitude about it. Luckily I still have a few days left to finish up my presentation and adjust my attitude.

Spam

As annoying as spam is, I sometimes find the messages amusing. This week's favorite subject line: Would you like to be a father of the whole kindergarden?

How many guys trying to score are really asking themselves that question? I think Spermamax needs some better marketing research and English skills. The grammar Nazi in me is quite bothered by the misuse of articles in that question and the misspelling of "kindergarten." Even if I were dying to father a whole kindergarten, I would avoid taking any drugs from a company that can't spell correctly. Really, how do we know that they got the ingredients right?

Basket Case

Our beloved Brittany has been a bit out-of-sorts lately. Even though both dogs have their own beds in our bedroom, this week she made a new bed for herself-- in the laundry basket. She looks cute in her new digs, but we think it's a sign that she's not feeling well, which is just sad. She's 11 now and has some health problems so we hope this isn't something serious.

A Favorite Classic

Most of my students and some of my colleagues know that I'm a grammar Nazi. I can't help it. I like structure, rules, and good prose. Needless to say, one of my favorite books is Strunk and White's Elements of Style. I've had a copy since I was in high school. It would often sit in a box or on a dusty shelf until some major writing project cropped up (such as the dissertation) and then it would be neglected again. I'd lost the book several times, but somehow it kept popping back up. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it since we moved to Albany and I'm afraid that it may not have survived the big move. I've been aching for it for months hoping it would reappear, but I finally broke down and bought a new edition this weekend. Grading 30 undergraduate papers really makes you appreciate good ol' Strunk and White. I'm really looking forward to reading it again (sad, but true).

Fabulous Fall

We were able to get away for a little bit today to check out the fall colors in the Adirondacks. We only went as far as Lake George, but it was a really pretty drive. They've added a nice memorial at the lake for the seniors who drowned last year in the Ethan Allen disaster.

On the way home we stopped at the "local" Polish deli. It's about 15 miles from Albany and it's a very small store, but it's totally worth the drive. We were in heaven! The best part is that the owners are trying to open a store in Schenectady, which will be a lot closer for us.

Blog Envy

I still have mixed feelings about the blogosphere, even after diving in myself. I'm frequently annoyed by what I find there, particularly when people try to be too cute or too smart. However, today I had my first experience of blog envy. I stumbled upon this site and I was so jealous I hadn't nabbed that name. And the banner picture is perfect! When I show this blog to Eddie this weekend he is going to be very disappointed in my lack of creativity.

(In all fairness, even if I had thought of that name I wouldn't have used it. Since I decided not to blog anonymously, I try to keep the blog fairly respectable in case it's read by students, colleagues, bosses, etc.)

Feeling Nostalgic

I don't often feel nostalgic about my grad school days at the University of Chicago, mainly because the deep psychological wounds are still healing. However, every now and then I remember why I went there and occasionally a fond memory pops up. This week has been filled with Chicago reminders. On Monday I lectured about the use of maps in Chicago School sociology. My students were not as excited about social ecology as I was, but I tried very hard to impress upon them the novelty of the approach and the impact of this tradition on sociological thinking.

Then today I was checking out web sites that provide interactive crime maps for use in class tomorrow and there's a really cool one for Chicago. I looked up the address of the apartment building where I lived for nearly two years. While the crime incidents were a bit disturbing, just looking at the street names brought back lots of memories of living in Chicago, including fall in Hyde Park, attempting to play tennis in the park with Piper, walking to Erin's scary studio apartment with the creepy Murphy bed, great Thai food, etc.

And tomorrow I'll be getting together with Bridget, my roommate from the Chicago days who saved me from the hell that was International House. Bridget was one of the few "normal" people who I was fortunate enough to befriend. In fact, despite the horrors of grad school (or because of them) I realize that some of my closest friends today came out of that dark and depressing time.

I haven't been back to Chicago since graduation over two years ago. I miss the city a lot. I haven't yet grown to love NYC the way that I love the city of Chicago, but maybe it'll just take some more time.

Unusual Pets

Our current menagerie of two dogs and a cat is pretty run of the mill, so Eddie occasionally tries to spice up our animal collection. Before we were married he had previously owned a ferret, some African frogs that only live underwater (and that committed suicide on my watch by jumping out of their tank), and a rabbit. I was happy not to have inherited any of these pets as part of our cohabitation.

When we went out West for our honeymoon we fell in love with prairie dogs and learned that they can easily be domesticated and they make "great pets." Needless to say, Eddie was convinced that we had to get one. While they are cute, I wasn't too happy with their rodent-like qualities. I looked up lots of information online about prairie dogs as pets and most of the news was positive. They apparently bond well with humans and are relatively clean animals. The downside is that they need lots of attention and they can actually die if they don't get enough. Given that I was still working on my dissertation and Eddie was on the road a lot, that pretty much killed the prairie dog discussions. I couldn't stand that level of guilt.

This weekend Eddie came up with his next pet idea -- a pot-bellied pig. Again, I wasn't thrilled, but I attempted to be open-minded. We even tried to come up with cute names for the pig, settling on Arnold since Eddie often likens us to Oliver and Lisa Douglas of Green Acres. Needless to say, I went back on the internet to check out the pig-as-pet alternatives. Bad news there as well. Although they can be easily trained and they also bond well with humans, pigs have a tendency to be aggressive with other animals (and possibly children). They typically weigh about 125 lbs., and quite frankly the 125-lb. Rottie is more than I can handle. They also need to dig in dirt and roll in mud -- more for me to clean up, so no thanks. So now I've nixed the pig idea. I'm sure this won't deter Eddie for long.

Amish School Shooting

Seriously, some days I can't stand to read the news. I stopped watching most news on TV, particularly local news, because it was simply too depressing. I've reached my limit of sensationalized stories of child abuse, crime, and political scandals. I prefer the online newspapers because I can be more selective about what I read. But stories such as the horrible child murders in Amish country are difficult to ignore. What an ironic vindication of their lifestyle. I wonder how long it will be before this tragedy becomes a really bad made-for-TV movie.

Juxtaposition

As I was perusing the online edition of the New York Times this morning I was struck by the curious juxtaposition of two photographs on the front page: a six-month old baby from the Ivory Coast covered with sores caused by toxic waste and, just to the right of this image, a smaller picture of Flavor Flav from his hit VH1 show Flavor of Love.

I'm really bothered by these images. On the one hand, putting these pictures side-by-side could be seen as an indictment of our shallow, narcissistic, materialistic culture as Flavor Flav looks utterly ridiculous next to this sad little boy. (Okay, more ridiculous than usual.) On the other hand, why does this poor child have to share the front page with anyone, let alone someone as silly as Flavor Flav? Isn't the negligent harming of the world's poor by multinational corporations worthy of our complete attention?