Year 2 - Day 55

[shadowkat]

I think it's clearing off finally. I see blue sky, and sunshine. Was feeling fine this morning, but cold. Apparently I wasn't alone in being cold because the heat finally came on around ten or eleven am. I had heavy shirt, a sweater, sweat pant leggings and fluffy socks. Also hot tea.

I don't mind it being chilly at night, but it is bothersome during the day.

I used to freeze at the office - so this actually isn't so bad.

I've been hunched over a lap top all day long, intermittently hunched over a phone, and staring blankly out the window at the sky, the trees, and a feral cat meandering about whom I've nicknamed ghost.

Didn't feel fine later - had to take something for yet another sinus headache. Some people get itchy and watery eyes or sneeze, I get sinus headaches, and cough/wheeze. Mother informed me that I was taking medication for the allergies so that may be why? God knows.

As a result been dragging a bit, and feeling slightly depressed. Poor mother was trying to cheer me up and failing miserably at it. So I went for a walk.



And bought more groceries, which I most likely do not need.

1. The Governor and COVID

Well they are getting creative regarding the whole vaccination endeavor, and possibly a tad desperate. This is kind of reminding me of the testing initiative. Now, they are setting up vaccination sites in the subway and train hubs for basically everyone. You don't even need to be a NY State resident to get vaccinated. It's the Johnson & Johnson - and if you get vaccinated at one of the subway or train stations, they'll either give you a free seven day subway pass, or two rides on the LIRR or Metro North trains.

Right now, there's about 16 million with at least one dose or 60% of the population, with almost 50% with two doses. The MTA has about 51% vaccinated. Since NY is giving vaccines to anyone who wants one at this point - I figure once we jump past 19 million, they'll realize they aren't just vaccinating New Yorkers. Maybe they know that already - it's not clear. But it has taken the State's total infection rate back down to 1.2 -1.4%.
27 people dies though, and we still have over 1,000 cases. But hey, progress.

They've basically vaccinated everyone who wanted one or was desperate for one. They are now stuck with the folks who don't want one and are being stubborn about it.


2. Television shows - Watched Mare of East Town last night on HBO. I was rather impressed. Much better than expected. Can't wait to see the next episode. It's a mystery serial - focusing on a female sergeant in a down-trodden town somewhere in the US. I'm thinking Pennsylvania, but it could be New England. It's based on a series of books. Stars Kate Winslet, Jean Smart, and Guy Pearce. I rather enjoyed the first episode, and like the actors, also am finding the disgruntled lead character - weirdly comforting.

I'm behind on the Nevers. I think I saw the fourth episode but my HBO Max streaming app disagrees with me.

3. Movies...West Side Story - rewatched that on Sunday (I don't know if that's the best thing to watch if you are depressed - I cried at the end again). It's better than I remembered, there's some amazing and underrated dance numbers in that. And they were apparently grueling to film - since they insisted on doing it on location, and on concrete. Try dancing for hours on end on concrete? They had knee pads - which they burned afterwards. And Tamblyn who played Riff got shin splints.

Things Heard & Seen - stars Amanda Seyfield, James Norton, F Murray Abraham, and Karen Allen. It's not very good. Kind of a gothic horror/ghost story with a murderous husband. The ending is kind of cool, but also - I thought overtly Christian. Yes, yes, the husband is damned, having him sail into hell and then showing it as a painting is kind of overkill.. Couple moves to creepy farm house up in New England. The wife has an eating disorder, the husband turns out to be a pathological liar and narcissist.

I found it comforting in a way - it made me happy I wasn't married, didn't live in a country house in a small town in New England, didn't drive, and
had no kids. (Actually so did Mare of East Town.)

I also remember wondering why the wife didn't tell her husband - this house is creepy, I'm going somewhere else. The wife - I felt was a tad on the weak side.

4. Books...I'm meandering my way through the audio book Rules of Civility by Amor Torres, and the contemporary romance novel Dear Enemy by an author whose name I cannot remember via Kindle Unlimited. I'd say Rules of Civility is by far the better of the two (no contest really there - it's kind of a given). Dear Enemy unfortunately does not work well as an audio book. While I have no difficulty reading explicit sex scenes or reading characters discuss them - I do struggle with listening to them, particularly in first person - it's kind of silly or ludicrous. "Oh, my cock is so hard, I can hardly stand it" (Me: LOLOLOL!!!) or "The fat head of his cock floated up to the surface of the water..." ME:So is this an inflatable balloon? I began to giggle.

I'm sorry it just doesn't work. And to make matters worse? They have two narrators. One does the female chapters, and one the male. Like I said, it worked up to the sex scenes. And contemporary romance novelists get a bit graphic.

5. Almost forgot..Whedon Studies Association on FB asked if we knew Whedon had gotten remarried? (Yes, I did - I kind of figured it out from his Twitter page way back in November. He'd been living with an artist throughout the pandemic, and I figured they were married.)

Whedon needs Birth Certificate to get his Wife a green card

The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” writer is being forced to jump through legal hoops to get a copy of his original birth certificate — so his Canadian wife won’t be deported, according to legal filings.

Whedon, 56, was born Joseph Hill Whedon in the Big Apple in 1964, but has used the nickname “Joss” for decades, even on his driver’s license and passport, according to court papers.

When he tried to get the important document online, he was rejected because of the discrepancy. When he and a lawyer called the city’s Office of Vital Records and pleaded his case, a clerk quipped, “Well, that’s not real life. You need to get a court order and an emergency request for birth certificate before we can help you with that,” according to legal filings.

LOL! This is actually true. You need to produce the actual birth certificate - which requires a court order. You can't use the copy. I find out about that when I was applying for a passport, luckily I have a passport already, so not a problem. They've got weirdly bureaucratic about this now.



What continues to amuse me about the whole outdoor dining thing - is apparently some restaurants don't get the concept. The above is a picture of outdoor indoor dining. In other words - it appears the build an extension onto the sidewalk. I didn't know it was possible to do outdoor indoor dining until now.

Oh and the below is why you don't really need to wear a watch in NYC.

Comments

[mtbc]

I wonder how large that bird is, it appears to soar in between the clouds and the rooftops.

[yourlibrarian]

I have Mare in my HBO queue, maybe I should move it up.

Yeah, not a cheery film but I used to own West Side Story on videotape. I always enjoyed the music and the dancing. It has great numbers.

Nice catch of the bird and clouds! It got cold here too. Just one week after Mike put most of the plants out on the balcony we had to bring everything back in again because it was close to freezing at night. Will probably keep them in until Wednesday but temperatures will reach 70s on Friday.

Interesting about the passport issue. I've had one continuously since young but you just reminded me that mine expires next month. I can't see myself using it in the next year, in fact I only used the last one twice during cruises. But I want to check and see if there's a problem renewing it if the previous one has been expired for a while.

[shadowkat]

I didn't even know I was taking a picture of it, until I looked at the shot. And when I did, I thought, whoa - where'd he come from - and is that a plane or a bird? I think it may be a red-tail hawk or a bald eagle. We have a bald eagle camped out in Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery apparently. I've seen it high above both, but not close.

[shadowkat]

Mare has managed to drop a few episodes before I decided to give it a shot. It's really good, kind of reminds me a little of Broadchurch and Mystic River. The characters are fascinating, and the actors very very good. Also, everyone's makeup is downplayed, and its hyper-realism.

I couldn't get into Big Sky, but this I got in quickly. It surprised me - with how good it is.

Yeah, I can beat you on West Side Story - I had the 50th Anniversary Edition on DVD. I think it was the 50th? Had all the extras, everything. I think I finally just gave it away. Because the DVD didn't hold up well, and it keeps popping up on TCM and Streaming. HBO Max has some great musicals (it has all the MGM musicals. I'd forgotten that Warner Brothers bought MGM.) Also has all the Gibi Studios anime and Loony Tunes library.

I agree on West Side Story - I love the music and the dancing. I have the music on my MP3 player. You can't beat the Bernstein/Sondheim score and lyrics. Or Jerome Robbins/Tony Mordente Dance numbers - which seem to merge Gene Kelly with the elegance of Fred Astair.

The funny thing about the bird and clouds? I didn't know the bird was even there when I took that shot. I saw it after I posted it. I was just taking a picture of the sky. I think I thought it was an airplane. (There was one flying over head.)

We have the same weather you do, apparently. 40s at night and in the morning, 50s and 60s during the day, with it getting into the 70s by week's end. Bringing the plants in isn't a bad idea.

I got passport and driver's license renewed in 2019. One year before. I can't wait to feel safe traveling again - if such a thing is possible. I'll probably stick to the US until 2023 or 2024. Although if my niece hightails it to London next year, I may try to visit her there, and take her for a brief week excursion to Paris and Amsterdam. (Hey one can dream right? May not happen. But I can dream.)

[atpo_onm]

First off-- Oooo! Great shot of the buildings, that super-cloudy sky and... THAT BIRD!! Yeeaaah!

I really liked the one of the restaurant, too. Gives "seeing red" a whole new meaning. eh? ;-)

Which is a good example of the perennial dilemma, which is if I take a shot, and basically really like it, but think I can make it even better or simply different by altering it in some way--- should I? There are photographers who frown on that, other than for maybe simple retouching to correct a genuine glitch of some kind.

But for me, it's not so much doing photo verite, as what works best in my mind's eye, so I often freely mess around with things. In the restaurant, I'd either paint out those "La Puerta Roja" logos on the fence banners, or reduce them in size and then paste them back in. (I understand that the restaurant owners want them big so they can be seen from the street, but in the image, they distract from the overall lovely graphic / color palette appeal of the image.) That little, subtle "La Puerta Roja" above the umbrella and below the rusty awning frame makes the image suggest, rather than scream "seeing red".

Whew. Sorry, I can't help it. For any non-kat folk reading this, photo geek here. DO NOT read this as criticism of kat's images, for it is not. Trust me.

This altered version of the sky / bird pic did immediately call out to me, especially as someone who spent the first years of his hobby doing almost exclusively B&W work. The color shot is great, here's a B&W version for your consideration:



*******

Whedon, 56, was born Joseph Hill Whedon in the Big Apple in 1964, but has used the nickname “Joss” for decades, even on his driver’s license and passport, according to court papers. When he tried to get the important document online, he was rejected because of the discrepancy.

My sister's husband has had similar issues with bureaucratic confusion because he has been inconstant with how he legally signs his name over time, mixing initials and first / middle names in about 4 or 5 different ways. My sister's efforts to get him to not do this have been to no avail, however, so she's just learned to live with it and muddle through as best she can with it when someone says, "Uhhm, sir, your signatures don't match."

I have always signed my name (legally) in the same way since at least junior high ("Objects N. Mirror"), with one exception, which was when I applied for my drivers license, where the personnel accepting the application insisted I use my full middle name. Pointing out that this was different than what I always do did not sway them, so to this date, my drivers license is the ONLY legal document I have with that signature!

Ah, bureaucracy, you are so fickle. (But... with good reasons at times.)

[shadowkat]

A couple of things on the photos?

1. I didn't know La Puerta Roja meant "seeing red" - I don't know Spanish - so the name of the Restaurant had no meaning to me. (Also I don't think I can begin to do what you suggested, nor really want to. LOL! I was going for realism. Also my focus was on the oddity of the enclosed cabins for outdoor dining - which continues to boggle my mind - in particular that the city allowed it.)

2. I didn't know there was a bird in that photo when I took it. I was focused on the sun - which was bright but not at the same time, and attempting to get the change in colors among the sun and clouds. We had thunderous clouds, white clouds, blue sky and yellow sun.

***

Regarding the passports? Yeah, I have to have my Middle Name on plane tickets now - if I'm using the passport for identification. I almost got booted off a plane in Turkey because the name on the passport didn't precisely match the plane ticket - if it weren't for the fact that I was traveling with a group of people who knew me, one of which was a very aggressive New Yorker, and happened to be standing in line right behind me - and en mass intimidated the poor steward, I'd not have been able to get on to the plane and to the next destination. Since that I occurred, I'm careful with plane tickets and ID.

American Passports insist on your full name - First Name Middle Name and Last Name fully spelled out as they appear on birth certificates. It's highly annoying. Because of this - I put my full name on my drivers license, and put it on plane tickets now. Mainly because airlines are weird about it matching.

[yourlibrarian]

I couldn't get into Big Sky either. And that doesn't surprise me about the photo, especially with a smaller bird a camera phone just isn't fast enough to catch them so it's serendipity. Really adds something though!

I'm currently watching a few other things on Max but will finish with them soon so will try out Mare in another week or two.

Yes, one wonders if it will be possible to feel safe traveling again, particularly alone. But I had good news because it turns out you can renew your passport as long as it isn't more than 15 years old. That might change in the future but chances are it won't be less than 10. So I should be fine waiting until 2023 or 24 to do so. I do plan to travel next year if things improve but only domestically. And I'm most likely to need the passport for a cruise.

I suspect that many kinds of travel will be busy and costly in the next few years due to pent up demand. A friend who plans to travel to Yellowstone later this year said that the hotels have few vacancies and that they're expensive. I suspect trips to parks will be in particular demand because of the openness but they have often been crowded and maybe are in off-peak times now.

[shadowkat]

I think the trailers to Big Sky turned me off? Then my mother told me what it was about - and I though, eh, another serial killer story...I'll pass. Mare - the focus is more on the lead and characters, with the mystery kind of in the background.

On travel - I'll probably be visiting people, if I can. I've been so isolated during this thing, all I want to do is be with people I know. I just want to see my family, and some friends.

[atpo_onm]

I didn't know La Puerta Roja meant "seeing red" - I don't know Spanish - so the name of the Restaurant had no meaning to me. (Also I don't think I can begin to do what you suggested, nor really want to. LOL!

My bad-- I was into the word play between the traditional meaning of "seeing red", i.e. extreme anger, rage, bloodlust, and the idea of a restaurant with an overwhelmingly red-based outdoor color theme!

My Spanish is pretty minimal, but I knew "roja" is "red", and "Puerta" sounds a lot like "portal" to me, and being that there is this big and tall red door to the front of the place, I'd venture the English would be "The Red Door"

Heh... concocted this mini-story to further ridiculously elaborate on the dubious wordplay:

Driver: Holy crap! Am I ever seeing red!!

Passenger: Huh? What?? What, did some pedestrian give you the finger or something?

Driver: No, no, look over there-- that restaurant, at least I think it's a restaurant. Look at all that red... big, bright red umbrellas, bright red logo banners, and... even the door to the place is red! My eyes!! Ahhh, I'm gonna be seeing red for at least the next ten blocks!!

Passenger: Uhhh... you're weird, you know that?

Driver: Hey, they're my eyes, they see what they see, you know. Sheesh!

Passenger: Oooookay... never mind. Just drive.

Driver: Mmmm... are you hungry?

*******

Just this morning, as I was contemplating how to form this reply, it suddenly occurred to me that what I'm doing when I play around with or suggest variations to your images, it's analogous to a musician / songwriter having a cover version of their tune performed by another musician who likes that tune. That make sense?

BTW, I'm gonna make a print of that cloudy sky bird shot. Whether you saw the bird at first or not, that shot's a winner!

[shadowkat]

Thank you. Go ahead and make the print. Happy you loved the shot.

Word play is kind of lost on me, along with puns. My family just doesn't get puns. They make no sense to any of us.

[atpo_onm]

Puns are tricky things, no doubt, and tend to very binary in how many people perceive them-- there tends to be a "love 'em, they're so clever" or a "dislike them, they're childish / stupid".

Thing is, like most verbal art, they can very well be either, depending on the skill of the punster. After all you can read a book and end up with either "that was wicked lame!" or 'damn, what a masterpiece!". Puns be no different.

For me, a good pun is when there is a certain musicality to the words, like a series of notes that together become more than the mere notes themselves, and/or that the wordplay operates on multiple levels. If that's the case, I quite enjoy them. If not, I may cringe much like the folks who generally disdain them.

Comic strip artists are often very fond of puns, but IMO some do them well, and others... less so. Bob Thaves, who creates the Frank and Ernest strip, I find to be fairly consistently clever with his puns, especially in light of how often he utilizes them. He was the source of one of my all time fave puns, which made its way into this strip:



On the other hand, Dan Thompson, who creates the Brevity strip, is very hit and miss, in that I find he often works too hard, as it were, to come up with his wordplay? I groan at most of them, but occasionally, he does do justice to the art, as in this recent strip:



I did get a genuine, spontaneous laugh out of that one. What's that old phrase, "Even a blind squirrel finds some nuts"?

Anywho, just some thoughts. Later!

:-)

[shadowkat]

No, you don't understand. It's not disdain. It's that we just don't see the pun. We're blind to it.
Sometimes, if it's made obvious I'll see it - or if I think about it for a very long time, but usually I don't.

I looked at both cartoons and didn't get the pun at all. I just didn't get it. Same with the photo I posted - the pun was lost on me.

My brain doesn't process puns at all. It may be a genetic quirk? My immediate family doesn't either. In fact my mother had no idea what a pun was - and none of us could come up with an example. It's not how we think.

So it's really not binary - "oh I love them" or "oh I hate them" - so much as, I don't see the pun or hear it or understand why you love or hate them?

My family has a dark sense of humor, that tends towards witty, and absurdist situations. Kind of sardonic wit. But wordplay is kind of lost on us.

[atpo_onm]

My brain doesn't process puns at all. It may be a genetic quirk? My immediate family doesn't either.

Huh, that is genuinely curious. I'd tend to agree if it's not just you, but others in your family also. The brain is indeed a mysterious organ. It's especially puzzling in that you and from what you've mentioned previously that your family are very into books and reading and writing. From that standpoint, it would almost seem like appreciating any manner of wordplay would come naturally. Fascinating.

looked at both cartoons and didn't get the pun at all. I just didn't get it.

For what it's worth, in the Frank & Ernest toon the pun is based on the (reasonably) famous "Don't cry for me, Argentina" line from the musical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Cry_for_Me_Argentina

The Brevity toon pun is a bit more mundane, in that the wordplay is based on a simple consumer food product, Hidden Valley Ranch brand salad dressing.

https://www.hiddenvalley.com/

Substitute the word "valet" for "Valley", and... voila, set up a visual joke to go with the wordplay.

Anyway, don't feel too bad. I'm sure people don't understand why I feel that when I sleep my brain can somehow manage to get into parallel / alternate universes and hitch a ride along with other consciousnesses there, mine or others. Can I prove that? Nope, but it's the only explanation that seems even remotely rational to explain the genuinely weird things that happen in my dreams, like why the color of sunlight on a street downtown did not seem like any color I had ever seen before, like this was another earth with a different atmosphere that filtered the light differently

Or how, in a dream a few weeks ago, I saw my mother while she was young, probably late 20's. Except this would have been almost a decade before I was born, and so how could my brain have made this up?

Yep. Brain-- strange, complex little organ. Fascinating.

[shadowkat]

Regarding puns? I know why - it's not the same portion of the brain that processes stories, or reads, or visualizes. Puns depend on similar sound words - such as cry/fry, or valet/valley, as opposed to words with similar meanings or concepts. If you think phonetically or in sounds - puns work for you, if you don't - they won't. I don't think phonetically at all - actually it's why I struggle learning languages, struggle with playing music or tones.

So the joke is lost on me - because I don't think phonetically. You do.

I'm also not a literal thinker, I'm a metaphorical thinker for the most part. And visual.

In regards to dreams? I actually can provide a rational explanation? You read a lot of science fiction, watch a lot of it, and love photographs, and most like have seen photos of your mother at a young age. The brain will keep track of this information, play with it, and combine it.

Dreams are the brains way of handling emotional stresses during the day. Many of which we might not even be aware of. If you don't dream - you may be more irritable and upset, tired, and anxious - because your brain hasn't processed it fully. This is from various sleep psychologists - who have explained it.

[atpo_onm]

If you think phonetically or in sounds - puns work for you, if you don't - they won't.

Whoa... I like that explanation! I never thought about thinking phonetically, although I've always believed one of the reasons I learned to read and spell rather effortlessly is because when I was a very young child, I was taught reading and spelling in schools using phenomes. To this day, I can usually figure out how to pronounce even fairly lengthy words or words in a foreign language because I instinctively break the word up phonetically.

And you're right in that I hear words, as if musical notes? It's certainly no surprise to you that my brain is highly oriented to sound, considering my profession. (Also why it's so intensely frustrating to me that I'm not a musician. There, the problem isn't the sounds, but that my brain and nervous system do not communicate reliably with my muscles at anything other than very slow speeds. Even now as I'm typing this, I have to stop and correct for hitting the wrong keys roughly every six to ten words.)

You read a lot of science fiction, watch a lot of it, and love photographs, and most like have seen photos of your mother at a young age. The brain will keep track of this information, play with it, and combine it.

Good points. I've actually considered the movies and photos I've seen of my mother when she was younger, but it's hard to describe just how real the three-dimensional, moving person in the dream appeared to me. Or how to describe the light color thing. Science fiction fan-- true, but... this color was alien, not of our earth, and the me in the dream was having trouble processing it as a result. How can I explain this... it's like you're drinking a cup of coffee, only-- it's Martian coffee, made from a coffee-like bean but of a plant DNA that doesn't exist here and never did.

Here's a weird thing (what, another one? Heh :-) My sister apparently dreams in black & white. She was surprised a few years back when we were talking about dreams and I told her that I dream in full, very rich color, always. We were in a diner at the time, and by happenstance the server came over and happened to overhear what we had just said.

"You dream in color??", he asked, clearly puzzled.

Now, get this-- my sister has precognitive and/or "remote seeing" dreams on occasion, usually disturbing ones. One a few years ago that startled her the most was one where she dreamed of one of her sons being in a car accident. Shaken, she called him right away the next morning, and he was stunned to hear that she was right. Fortunately, he wasn't injured, but the accident was real.

Now, see, my rational explanation for that is the alternate / parallel universe one, the one I use to explain my weird dreams. I do find it intriguing that among the world's top mathematicians/physicists an ongoing discussion is that there is now math that could support us existing in either a universe or a multiverse. Which is the reality, and hoe can you empirically test for it?

So at the mo... I'm on the multiverse side of the arguments.

BTW, I've been enjoying this conversation, thanks!

--OnM

[shadowkat]

You're welcome. ;-)

Dreams are weird. There's been a lot written on the topic. And I've read a lot and forgotten most of it. I used to worry about them, or worry about remembering them - now I don't, and let them go.

I dream in color and black and white, sometimes both. Also I have to ability to influence my own dreams, in which I'll think okay that's not possible, and the dream changes or I will wake myself up. And I've had dreams in which I keep waking up into a new one.

It's interesting that yours take on the form of traveler - as if you are hitching a ride or seeing life in parallel universes. I have to say visiting parallel universes in your dreams in a new one for me - I've not heard that one.

(In college I took a course in which we had to keep a dream journal and hand it in - along with analysis of our dreams. The more I attempted to analyze them, the more confused they got and the more they eluded me. My professor at the time stated that my subconscious probably didn't want them analyzed or was protecting me.)

I think the human imagination is kind of limitless. Also, the following theories have been provided over time:

1. collective unconsciousness - we are to some degree sharing others projected thoughts or thoughts that have been projected onto an astral plane.

2. past lives - you are often reliving past lives in your dreams

3. information gathered from the day rehashed in dreams

4. astral self floats out of your body while dreaming and hitches a ride to other planes of existence or realities (your parallel universe idea fits into that one.)

I don't know, it's kind of like telling someone who speaks to God and feels God's presence that that's just themselves, or a part of their own brain and in their imagination. But you don't that. Just because you may not have this experience, doesn't mean they don't.

The difficulty with humans is a tendency to think - what we experience is the same as what someone else does - it's not. We don't have the same experiences. What you described with dreams is unique to you - no one else has had that experience. Just as your sisters dreams, and possibly precognitive ability is unique to your sister.

Our brains are unique to each of us, as are our bodies - it's why it's so hard for medical and psychological doctors to figure the brain and body out.
Recent evidence has come out that there are brain cells in the human gut. And if parasites or other things infect the gut, they infect the brain as well. And a lot of mental disturbance and illness is related to what is happening in your gut or digestive tract. So the thoughts that you may believe are yours, may be induced by what is happening in your gut.

See? Headache inducing, and somewhat scary information.

Regarding phonics? In the 1960s and 70s, they got into the whole phonics craze. Convinced that this was the best way to teach everyone to read. Which was great for folks like yourself, but no so much for others. Now, over fifty some years later, they've figured out that a myriad of learning tools are required - and people don't learn the same way.

For example? My cubical mate and I both require interactive learning. We need to interact with the material and others to learn. Sitting in a lecture and taking a test isn't going to work for us. But if we can fiddle with it and figure it out - it will.

Also in first grade? They taught everyone to read with phonics - "hooked on phonics" was the program. And you sounded out the words. No pictures. Just the word and sounds. As a result reading eluded me. That is until the second grade teacher hunted down the old Sight & Sound learning technique - ie. Dick and Jane books. And separated out a group of us and taught us using those books. Suddenly I could read. It was as if someone had opened a door.

It may be why I read voraciously and have ever since. I read and write for a living. I desperately wanted to read - I was so upset that I couldn't. And I wanted to write, more than anything. It's what I had a passion and drive for, in part, because it took so long for me to figure out how.

Now, they utilize a broader spectrum of learning techniques, but back then, they didn't - and lost a lot of kids as a result. Those kids grew up and pushed for better methods.