I am busy following the election madness, far more involving (for me) than than any pre-game analysis. I have contributed to Hillary’s campaign and get constant requests for more money. It’s in the nature of these efforts that they must continue to ask. One of the come-ons is to donate and have a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles to meet Hillary at, whoa, George Clooney’s house for an afternoon (or maybe 15 minutes – it ain’t clear). So how could I resist?

I have it on good authority from my ESP, that I am going to win this. As I used to say when I played the Lottery, until I check the winning numbers, I could be a millionaire. I like the anticipation. And I’ll say hi to George for y’all.

As for the house and its problems, I think we have finally solved this because the critter control rep sealed off what we think was the last entry point. So far, no new damage and the dishwasher is working, whrrr whrrr, and I am getting the kitchen back in order.

My friend, Sol, is beside herself with worry as she struggles to pass tests (and English is not her fist language) for her nursing course. I help her with her writing and she showed me a guideline that I found very involved and hard to understand. For one thing, you lose points if you don’t follow format and punctuation exactly, including, for instance only one space after a period which is the new thing and I can't remember to do it because I have been double spacing after sentences for 65 years. I don’t think this kind of nitpicking lends itself to nursing knowledge and it would seem that those making up the curriculum are full of themselves and want to look important.

I once read a paper sent to me by a friend, much younger, who is a speech therapist. It is in academic English. I found it impressive that she could write like this at all, while at the same time being bored silly and getting thoroughly sick of the word “paradigm” that seemed to be everywhere. I think this style is tedious and totally unnecessary and that it impedes rather than facilitates comprehension.

I am, admittedly, not a scholar and yet I have gone through life learning a lot of things that facilitate living and communicating effectively. I can’t think that a university education would have taught me anything except how to get through a four-year course of upper-speak that does not help in the real world.

End of sermon.