Reunited with My Luggage

Just 24 hours after my plane arrived, someone delivered my suitcase to my door. Good thing. I started making a list of how much it would cost to replace all those clothes, and, because I had all my good interview clothes in there, it was quite a bit someone would have had to pay.

What's a Classic?

Now it seems that Oprah has confronted and repudiated James Frey because of the lies in his book. (With two million sold, he doesn't need a link.) A few weeks ago the book was thought of as a great book, largely because Oprah told us it was worth reading. She put it in the same category as Faulkner, Tolstoy, and Steinbeck. I was talking with my students a couple weeks ago and pointed out to them that the books that are considered great today might not be in the future. A Million Little Pieces made this transition in just three months -- obscurity to great book, and now to book of questionable value. Somehow, Oprah, definitely one of the smartest people out there, and a person deeply committed to improving the literacy situation in this country comes out a hero. God bless America!

Lost Luggage

So here I am back from campus visit number five; this time it was in Pennsylvania. When I got on the plane at 1 pm, I saw them load my suitcase on. After that we transferred in Pittsburgh to go to Indianapolis -- side note: it was snowing when we landed and the plane circled the city for at least 15 minutes to wait for enough visibility to land and we almost were redirected to Morgantown WV -- I got on the plane and made it to Indianapolis at about 5:45. However, my bag was nowhere to be seen; and I was not the only person filing a report after that flight. As of 9 am this morning, US Airways has still not located my bag. Hopefully they will soon because I have another campus visit coming up Thursday next week.

Spike Lee

Last night he came to give a lecture at Purdue. The auditorium was filled and the back up auditorium where they showed on an lcd projector was also filled. He didn't really have a speech; he just talked for a while about what he thought young students should hear. After that he took about 15 questions from the audience. Definitely a smart person. I am curious to see his next movie, Inside Man, when it comes out in late March. Looks like a real departure for him.

Narnia

On Sunday my son and I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia. I asked him what he thought of the movie after it was over and he said it was good. Later I pressed him if it was very good or what; he responded that it was medium good.

I guess I felt about the same way. It was more or less worth seeing, but I can live without ever seeing it again. But the fact that a six year old felt about the same way about the movie makes me wonder if I was being too generous with my opinion.

Decide for yourself if it's worth seeing. Personally, I'd recommend you see Syriana or Munich instead, although neither of those are ones to bring a six year old to.