KIDS THESE DAYS

I typically find it unbearably boring when people talk about texting and how it's going to ruin civilization because now we say "ur" instead of "your" or "you're." Borinnnnnngggggg.

I remember once making a fool of myself in class laughing so hard when no one else was laughing: The class was called the History of the English Language, and the professor said to us one day, dead-pan, that soon our language would consist of only emoticons.  It's, like, kinda funny, but for some reason that joke really worked for me right then.

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Check these two text exchanges between me and J:

And later that week:

I seriously love language. (And J.)

And I am stoked about this emoji thing.  "Or whatever"?  What!? So cool.  Look how it's "officially" translated.  Language, as Dr. Dyson says, is a public bus; it doesn't work if you try to have your own.  So how did "or whatever" get around?  Who knows that it's "or whatever," and who doesn't?  What other things does this emoji mean? And do other emojis mean?  How do those meanings vary across race, class, age, gender, sexuality?

Want to do research project.

Official for whom?

One of my favorite things that Dr. Dyson has written is "The Pine Cone Wars."  When I read it was the first time I learned to think about what happens in the classroom within and across "official" and "unofficial" frames.

It's mind-boggling at the moment to try to sort out what's official and what's unofficial in a prison classroom that critically approaches the GED as a bullshit gatekeeper to parole through instruction by a team of incarcerated and free teachers.

I swear, as soon as we get our shit together, I want to write about what we're doing.