tempestuously | Another journalism icon lost

It seems so much of the old news guard is disappearing each day and no others are springing up. I do think that ABC made the wrong decision to spend almost their entire broadcast tributing Peter Jennings. He would have preferred them to just do the news and select a separate time to do a longer preview. Still, I almost cried while watching because Jennings loved journalism so much and really hoped he would be able to return. More depressing, it shows that when it comes to drugs, people really don't have a second chance. Smoking now has a good chance of damning you for life. Jennings should have had more time. I'll always remember the first time I saw his famous Berlin Wall clip, in which he gushed about being handed a piece of the Wall. I'll miss you, Peter.

Hearing about the children going back to school in early August angers me because the school's major reasoning is that students forget so much over the summer and that the teachers need a good 40 weeks to reteach them. They forgot to take into account the chunk of weeks they spend near the end of the year, preparing students to take those stupid standardized tests. As I've complained many times before, standardized tests don't illustrate anything aside from a child's proficiency at taking tests. They hardly show how much a student has learned because the teacher spends so much time training the students just to take the test. My recommendation is everyone's favorite essays. Lots and lots of essays. With scantron tests, you can guess a lot of the answers and still have a fair chance of passing without actually knowing anything. You can't fake an essay unless you are really good at BSing (which still might aid you in the real world/college) or you truly know the material. Essays make students think on their feet. They prove that the student understands enough to look at the bigger picture, to apply ideas, and to analyze the situation. Essays allow a teacher to teach the students as he/she normally would instead of preparing to them to take a test. I think the comprehension level of our nation's youth would be better measured through essay-type testing. All of you who hate writing just better get used to it. Writing is in everything and everyone needs to be able to explain themselves verbally. Almost all jobs require you to be able to do more than choose from a set of options.

I can't believe I'm seriously allergic to my synthetic fur because now I have a sore throat and have been sniffling all day. I have to write my papers for my internship final tomorrow or Wednesday. I hope I'll be able to scan things at

quebelly's sometime tomorrow as well. I'm barely going to be able to squeeze in time for con preparation with my brother's birthday and my company picnic on Saturday and everything for school due on Friday. I don't even know if I'll be able to get Friday off.

My brother had better start finishing his work sooner since I'm tired of coming home around 5 and working until practically 9 just because he wants to ass around for a good chunk of the time. Is it that difficult for him to do simple things like eat during the 10am-5pm shift I work? I guess I should just be happy that he's actually reading while I'm at work. Or I trust that he is. Time will tell when he has to write his book report. He can answer summary questions about what he read whenever I ask so that's a good sign.

And Six Feet Under might actually end on a deserving note. Color me shocked. I still love Keith and David's children of the corn.

I might finally get to watch Destiny 42.