I spent part of today outside with my best friend and partner in everything, my husband!  We decided to  grab some take-out lunch and go up to Cabrillo Monument in Pt. Loma.  What a great decision that was!  The day was one of the most crystal clear days that I have ever seen. On the ocean side of the park the sea gulls flew past us, flapping their white wings, and the waves broke with frothy foam onto the tidal pool areas.  The sail boats and sports boats lazily moved up and down the coastline.  At our feet we could see the bright yellow flowers and smell that familiar California brush aroma as we walked to the tidal pool area. On the bay side the San Diego skyline couldn’t have been prettier!  The arch of the bridge was just as beautiful as intended by its designer.  The mountains in the distance reminded us of the desert just beyond.

Having recently written about connection with other in our community, I continued my observations of today’s community–the visitors to the park.  If we just take time to quietly observe, we might be surprised.  I saw the kindness of a father holding his daughter’s hand tightly to protect her from falling, young friends helping each other climb down the steep path, a father coaxing his young son towards the restroom before the long ride home.

My favorite observation occurred twice in rapid succession–young men hoisted, without hesitation, their female companions’ fashionable and highly-impractical-for-hiking purses onto their shoulders, freeing the ladies’ hands to maneuver down the sloping landscape.  We chuckled to see one fellow with a large satchel decorated with a skull and cross-bones balanced on his shoulder as he offered his hand for support to his “maiden in distress.”   Another young man gently urged his date to trust him as he took her large purse, put it around his neck and then guided her down to his level.  Chivalry is not lost!

What a relaxing day to enjoy and connect with the wonders of nature–the colors, smells, and sights of a spring community in San Diego!

What a time we’re living in!

I came “home” from living abroad for five years.  I came “home” during an economic recession.  I came “home” and decided to move 2,500 miles across this great, big, beautiful country of ours with only what would fit in my little Hyundai (and that’s including my dog!).  I came “home” in the 6th year of the Iraq War.  But the important part is that I came home.

When I was in elementary school, I studied about American history just as any other good little boy or girl would.  I learned about the Revolutionary War and the Emancipation Proclamation.  I learned the preamble to the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address.  But the really exciting stuff for me was the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the assassination of JFK.  Luckily for me, my parents lived through all of this exciting history.  I would run home after class to ask my parents how they felt and what the atmosphere was like during such an amazing time in history, only to be met with,”Hmmm, Holly, I don’t really remember.”

I was devastated.  Unfortunately, my parents weren’t political people.  Sure, they lived through it.  They saw it.  They experienced it, but it wasn’t their passion.  They were too busy finding a way to eke out a living and put some bread and butter (and I do mean this literally) on the table.  Yes, they cared, but at the same time, life was just too important.

And here I am.  50 years later, and living in history.  Regardless of your political view, one cannot deny the wonderfully exciting and very passionate time in American history.  Just last year, we saw a black man take oath to become the first black President.  And now a little over a year later, we see this health care bill.  This blog is not for me to speak about where I stand politically, but to emphasize the fact the all this heat being generated through the United States is raising the temperature to an amazing notch in history.

And we’re LIVING in IT!!!  I can’t wait until my future children go to school and learn about this time in their history books.  Maybe they’ll run home to ask me, “Mom, tell me about the atmosphere of the late 2000 decade.  What was it like?  What did you feel when all this was happening?”  And although many moons will have passed to reach this day, I must say that there will be no shadow in my memory.  I’m already clipping newspaper articles for this day.

I have been teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (ESL), for more years than I care to remember and I have come to the conclusion that English is just too darn difficult . So, I am dedicating this blog to all the CIBU instructors at the beginning of the new quarter and to all our students whose blank stares betray their confused bewliderment while we wax eloquently along.

Most native speakers have long stumbled over the ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ rule. But thanks to corrective software, these mistakes magically correct themselves before our eyes. Now, I wish the spell check would ask me if I meant ‘their’ ‘there’ or ‘they’re, or  intuited whether I should write ”it’s” and not “its.”

It’s not easy explaining why we say things the way do or why we pronounce words like ‘tough” (tuff) yet ‘though; is not thuff!

Teaching English is rather like trying to give instructions on how to tie a pair of shoe laces!  Impossible to explain yet  relatively simple to demonstrate.

Consider the following:

• The professor asked the assistant to subject the subject to further tests.
• When the appraiser saw the tear in the painting, he shed a tear.
• A great row broke out among the oarsmen about the best way to row the boat.
• The modern farmer needs to produce produce that is organic in order to meet current demand.
• What does it profit the prophet when the prayer offered for the invalid was invalid?
• They were too close to the door to close it.

Why is it that the plural of  mouse is mice, yet people would laugh if you bought three hice?

I know that French fries were invented in Belgium. I wonder if the waffle was invented in France.

I get confused when a student asks why does a slim chance and a fat chance mean the same thing?

I’m bothered when, in exasperation, someone says “good grief!” What’s good about grief? Or when a something is described as ‘almost exactly’ the same as something else – huh? Yes, listening to English can be ‘pretty ugly’ (really!). No wonder there is often a ‘pronounced silence’  when someone asks if a response is a ‘definite maybe’  or just a ‘maybe”? Just what is the difference anyway — or is that anways” ?

Did you ever wonder why we park in the driveway and drive in the parkway? Or why we ask for an ‘exact estimate’? Could it ever be that something could be ‘found missing’ in the way we communicate?

All this cerebral (just how DO you pronounce that word?) work was making me hungry, so I asked a friend, “djeet yet?”  and she replied, “”No. Djew?”  No problem. We each understood the other. 

Ah! English — it’s just too darn difficult!

Columnist Thomas L. Friedman just described in an op-ed piece in the New York Times an experience he had recently in meeting the students and teachers of the Intel Corporation’s New Science Talent Search. The top impressive young awardees were heavily international young people and recent immigrants with brilliant, clear new concepts, products, innovations, and the skillful persuasiveness to present them. Friedman was struck by their global look and their teachers’ attitudes of doing what was needed to bring out the clear talent and creative design skills of these young people.

Early arrivers in the blueflash? Some may just go on to other brilliant products. Some may stick with their original concept, and take it all the way to clear life vision companies or products. But the distinguishing thing that caught Friedman, award winning journalist, was their youth, clear vision, and global qualities here in America.

That is why CIBU in recent years has placed such emphasis on exposing global students who come to America and San Diego to entrepreneurship, creative design skills, and global teamwork. These ARE the quintessential things that are what we need to strive for…they are part of our everyday world. An idea conceived in San Diego by a student from France, who teams with a Taiwanese to manufacture in Vietnam or China….and alas, we have a company….with a market, a downstream set of good income and outcomes…

Arrivers are those who find clear life vision and go about making it happen. Early, middle or late, it is grabbing the gusto and essence of life and making a contribution!

Is it possible for humans to keep up with technology?  I, for one, was born at the tail end of Generation X.  We’re the people who like to be told our work is good, and we were the first generation to grow up with computers.  My home, unfortunately, was not one of them.  I first used WordPerfect when I was in high school, and we were tested on our agility and ability with the shift, alt, F1, etc., keys.  As time has passed, I have learned much more about computers, but I am still barely hanging on to the second or third rung on the bottom of the technological ladder.

After reading the New York Times‘ article, “How Privacy Vanishes Online,”  I started thinking about the networks I belong to.  I have Myspace, Twitter, Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Chat, AOL, and Facebook.  What kind of 21st century citizen would I be without 1,000 social networking sites?  I even subscribe to Lastfm and Grooveshark.  But, really, where is all this information about me going?

Trust me, I’m really not full of myself.  I don’t think there are hackers out there pounding on their keyboards like orangutans trying to find their way into my measly checking account.  However, I’ve always wanted to know how and why websites like Google and Facebook know which advertisers to display on my searches and profile page.

More and more businesses are “marketing” on these social websites.  I tried to “x” an ad which stared at me from the right-hand side of my Facebook profile.  I was then asked the question, “Why didn’t you like this ad?”  Facebook was letting me know that if I gave them feedback about their ads, they would send me more relevant ones.  The ominous “THEY” are learning more and more about innocent “me.”

One of my international students told me that a stranger asked her for her email address on the street when she first arrived in America.  She gave it to him.  But she knew that it wasn’t right.  But when Facebook asks us to give them temporary permission to search our email accounts for our “friends,” we sign on without hesitation.  My biggest question is not how important our privacy is, but really, “how important is our privacy to others?”