February 2009 | Chapitre Deux

A blogging we will go, a blogging we will go, heigh ho & cheerio. A blogging we will go.

Good day, readers. On this dismal, dank, dreary day blood has already flowed twice as the result of an overly tumultuous game of puppy fetch. Unfortunately, Anubis has yet to grasp the entire concept of returning the thrown object whence it came. When I attempt to assist her by taking the object upon her galloping return, I seem to phind my phalanges amidst a phrantic phrenzy of teeth! Of course, she glances up at me, moments later, with her ears all wonky and large ''innocent'' eyes, and I hear myself forgiving her as I tape on a band-aid. There. It's like it never happened. Let's do it again!

My sweet Anubis joined the family business last night when she graduated from puppy kindergarten. And she's not even six months old yet! Her behavioral issues have been ameliorated massively. Her facial expressions have shifted from merely inquisitive to confident sagacity. And it's all due to her education. So bear this in mind, kiddies, and stay in school like Anubis. Just imagine what you, too, could accomplish with a degree.

With my degree, however, I feel compelled to warn against an advanced degree unless you have the freedom to move after grabbing your diploma. An MA in English, amid a recession, without the ability to move out of a mid-size mid-western town, is tantamount to being called out as a witch in jolly old Salem back in the good old days.

When applying for jobs that don't like their workers to be too educated, I try to insist that this isn't my nose, it's a false one! Sadly, most companies around here don't even want to weigh me. They've already assumed I weigh more that a duck, so they don't even bother farting in my general direction. Such are the politics of employment in the Fox Valley.

And yet. And yet, despite this, I still advocate education as the answer to all life's problems. All of them. Education is the key to life, and it only starts at school. There's homework, life lessons, and the simple act of reading books. The more information one possesses about a situation, the more familiar you become, the more familiar the less frightened, and therefore the more comfortable you become. And that's when your ability to understand kicks in. Followed by being able to see the big picture. Whatever that may be.