Thank Ford

On the cusp of starting Brave New World.

I'm sitting with a class of 28 sophomores debating the merits of cloning.

One student is confused and thought I meant clowning. For the past five minutes his group had been discussing the ethics of Barnum & Bailey and keeping animals in cages.

I suggest that we could clone clowns for the circus, but that might be comically redundant.

My words are met with a smattering of chuckles and guffaws.

We move on to the caste system.

It suddenly dawns on me that I still don't know all of their names. This is unusual. I have periods 1, 3, 4 & 7 down. Why not period 5? I make a mental note to pick up some memory medicine... Ginkgo? Is that what it's called? Sounds like a tropical fighting fish. In this corner, weighing in at half-an-ounce... Ghengis Ginkgo!

The bell's going to ring. Not for round one of the fish fight, but for the class.

I need something to say for closure.

I need a vacation.

But first, I need to finish grading the summer homework.

I will never again assign journal entries with the directions "minimum of three pages" because some students interpret this to mean: Write 30 pages.

The bell's going to ring.

Wait, didn't I already write that?

I need to get some of that memory medicine...what's it called again?