The perks of being a star blogger

That rowdy group on the WWWedu listserv is questioning the intent of educational bloggers. Is it about sharing, about we, about collaboration, about selflessness? Or is it only about me, me, me and the fast and heady world of becoming an educational blogging "star"?

Well, I don't know how other bloggers feel, but with a whole 171 people subscribed to the Blue Skunk (according to Bloglines) - some of whom aren't even relatives - I feel that I can safely consider myself a "star" blogger, and now that I know I am one, will darn well do something about it. Based on what "stars" in other professions can do, I plan to:

• Go out to a party not wearing underwear. Woo, woo. Of course, I would first need to be invited to a party.
• Make racist comments, apologize, and be immediately forgiven. Take that you, you, dumb Norwegians! Swedes are better - nanny, nanny, boo, boo. I'm sorry. It's not my fault. I am the victim of bad lutefisk.
  
• Say bad things about other bloggers on the Oprah show. Watch it, Warlick. I know all about your mother's choice of footwear.
• Market my own line of designer pocket protectors. Do insider trading. (Do I have to own stock to do this?)
  
• Be placed in the running for School Library Journal's 'Sexist Male Librarian of the Year." (About time David Loertcher has some competition!)

Yes, given my new celebrity status, you can count on plenty of bad behavior from me on a regular basis. That is if I am not too tired when I get home from work.

You sound like a broken record and other archaic expressions

I was reminded of a recent posting of Stephen Abram's when grandson Paul grew frustrated trying to fast-forward over the commercials on our hotel's TV last weekend. At his home, of course, there is a DVR that gives the appearance that broadcast or cable TV can be replayed, paused, and fast-forwarded much like a DVD. Paul is growing up not knowing synchronous broadcasting. He may well never know having to fight with his little brother over what TV show to watch, only when.

Abram's post does a good job of listing a few things that don't have any literal meaning for kids anymore:

• a card catalog (or book pockets or date stamps)
  
• dialing a phone (or memorizing phone numbers)
  
• loading a camera (or "let's see what develops")
  

When asked what the sound of a needle being pushed across the grooves of a (vinyl) record was, kids don't know - only that it indicates an abrupt transition. To my generation, it usually signaled shelling out $7 or so for a replacement of the album.

The literal meaning of expressions is fading.

• You sound like a broken record. (Did "in the groove" come from vinyl records?)
  
• Get a snapshot of that. (As opposed to what other kind of shot?)
  
• Every pot has a lid. (Were those the cooking devices we used before microwaves?)
• Off the map. (With a GPS?)

Of course many expressions have already gone the way of all good things. "Throwing the baby out with the bath water" actually was a concern in the days when the whole family shared a common filling of the tub, with the smallest members of the family using the water last. How primitive - almost as archaic as a dial-up Internet connection.

And your "dated" expressions? 

 

The meme of 5 or too much information

I was tagged by Christian Long and Kathy Schrock to play the Meme of 5  - the "list things about yourself that others probably don't know" game. OK, I'll play, but there is a reason one doesn't reveal everything to others.

1. I can wiggle my ears, much to the amusement of small children. Nice to have a fall back skill.
2. My first professional publication was a children's story and illustrations in Cricket Magazine in 1990. My second professional publication was about how I went about getting the story published.
3. I am a terible speller.
4. Every personality inventory I take categorizes me as an introvert. I find social events comprised primarily of strangers painful.
5. I went into library science believing it would be the easiest masters program one could obtain. What does a librarian need to know? I found myself in a cohort of about 30 of the smartest and hardest working women I had ever encountered and nearly flunked my first three classes. It was the first time in my academic career I actually had to study.

I'll tag Alice Yucht,  Diane Chen, Scott McLeod, Jacquie Henry, and Joe Poletti.