the class of cthulu

this morning, i was typing emails to some of my students in my afternoon class during my first morning class, while the students worked on revising some of their portfolio papers. i started off, as i often do when half-awake, with my fingers just a bit west of the home row, and started an email something like "Todd, hwewl'a tijy's" before i realized what i was doing and stopped. this stuck me as hilariously funny as i immediately imagined it as some weird, lovecraftian language that i was composing in as a result of being in a sleep deprivation trance. i laughed and laughed and laughed and the students closest to me surreptitiously scooted slightly further away. the idea of coversing with my students in only cthulu-talk for the rest of the class was an attractive one, but at the same time i'm pretty sure they already think i'm nuts. well, the first class might just think i'm boring. they should never schedule classes prior to 10am.


the other news of last night (besides the sox losing a titanic, cataclysmic battle with the yanks) was the ABC presidential debate. i didn't actually watch it, which pretty much eliminates my ethos, but i noticed all the backlash this morning and i can't say it makes me sad. there isn't any way without a crazy ranting post or nine (which i don't have time for right now) for me to express my absolute, blinding frustration and rage towards the news outlets for the way they handle, well, pretty much everything, but most specifically how they handle presidential elections. with the way we portray candidates in mainstream media, it shouldn't be any surprise at all that the people we keep electing are better hucksters than they are leaders. manipulating your image, and being experienced at the white lies (and sometimes bigger ones) that expedite the manipulation process is necessary for election nowadays. we've even seen obama have to get down in it a few times, and even though he's (generally) handled those sorts of things well, the fact that we have to be arguing as a nation more about how his having a roommate in college who had a che guevara poster effects his legitamacy than, say, his policies on global warming, foreign relations, or pretty much anything else that we should be forced to consistently examine and reexamine considering our position in the world's economic and political food chain...it makes me want to stick my hands and feet into plugged-in toasters and walk around on all fours. okay, that DID turn into a rant. my bad.

EDIT: apparently the root of candidate is "candid"...interesting, but i still don't know if we should be treating our presidential candidates with the same maturity of critical inquiry as we are britney spears or paris hilton.

lunchtime, now.