Happy Inauguration Day!

I was getting sort of giddy this morning and was a tad anxious for the speeches and all, when I looked at my lesson plan and saw a bunch of stuff about Language Arts and Spelling. Thanks to the internet, I knew I'd be watching the Inauguration later, at my leisure. Who needs actual history when you've got RealPlayer?

Our curriculum did include a book about what it takes to become president. During the discussion that followed, a second grade girl raised her hand and said, "My dad says Barack Obama is going to raise taxes."

All I could think was, "Your dad must be doing aok."

Several repetitions later, I had a pretty clear idea of who her dad had voted for. I threw something in about how taxes are necessary, and where, exactly, they come from is another matter, and that's when I think she said it again, "...by one hundred dollars!"

A few months ago, a little boy asked me if McCain, regarded as the epitome of all that is evil by first graders 'round these parts, was involved in the sale of cigarettes, while his classmate informed me that she personally had voted for Obama. As a hippie liberal and former tobacco educator, the cigarette comment has made it into my Top Ten Wacky Classroom Experiences list.

I can say without hesitation that the vast majority of the parents in this town are Democrats.

Speaking of all things that are hippie liberal, I came across this cool thing on the NY Times website, outlining the most frequent words used in past inaugural addresses.