A Mile High and Fat Pens! What a concept!

Good morning, All!

It has been a very busy week here – we are in the "finals" part of the quarter. Just finished the bulk of the grading which took over 9 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Being hunched over, even off and on, has strained my neck, my shoulders and my attitude. As this is a regularly occurring event, you'd think I was used to it my now...

Don, I was thrilled to hear that you made it home in good form, that the house was still standing and had not suffered any major problems while you were enjoying the sun.   Sorry to hear that you caught your fingers in the car door – my husband did that and is still in a splint for a broken thumb. Hopefully your injury is less drastic.

A couple of years ago I discovered that people weighted less in the Hudson Bay area than the rest of Canada. (If I go to Hudson Bay, Will I Weigh Less?) So what is the advantage to living in Denver – the Mile Hi City? Will I be taller? Closer to the sun? Is there an advantage to breathing thinner air? Is it more oxygen rich?  Unfortunately, the article I read didn't cover all the advantages, it just gave the facts and theories. And that in and of its self was pretty interesting!

So how did an area that is thousands of square miles get to be 5,280 feet above sea level when 70 million years ago it was a sea? According to two geologists, Craig Jones and Kevin Mahan, "crustal hydration" was the cause.  The Farallon plate was shoved down into the mantle and because the water in the plate was released, it set off a chain reaction that changed dense minerals into mica and other lighter weight minerals. The Great Plains floated on the mantle like an empty cargo ship. Other geologists say this theory is just a plausible as any other theory. As Jones said, it takes away from the embarrassment of not knowing why Denver is a mile high.

One of the problems I've encountered with my "thumb" changes, has been writing implements. The normal sized pens and pencils cause my hands to wear out faster – writing becomes a cramping affair. Prying the pen/pencil out of my fingers has been painful at best. So I became a seeker of "fat pens and pencils."

When I first sought out this more girthy writing tools, I had a lot of trouble finding anything that was big, round and of quality. We always found the really big tourist pens that were 18 inches long, two inches around, or the big pencils with huge erasers on them, but they were impractical to write with. There were expensive pens that cost over $7.00 each that were nice, and I could put silicon tubes on pencils that teachers recommend for primary school kids. Those worked okay. But I have to admit, as a college professor, I felt like I was going backward with the pencils.

In the last 18 months, I've found "fat pens" everywhere! And vendors are giving them away by the handfuls! Bic has put out a mechanical pencil that fits my needs magnificently! A clerk yesterday told me how much more comfortable it was to write with the larger pens than the "itty bitty stick things" as she stuck 3 free  magnificently plumb pens into my bag. I am rich in fat pens and pencils! Like I need to be convinced of their usability!

I loved your thoughts on Mexican Soap Operas! I've watched several on the Spanish channel here and your "hyper-exaggerated facial expressions" leave the viewer with no doubt about what is going on, even if they can't understand the language. Our Spanish teacher requires her students to watch and listen to the soap operas so students can get practice in the language.

My experience with international drivers was with the Bosnian drivers in Sarajevo. I never understood how anyone figured out who was next at the 4-way stop. Walking and crossing the streets was often an adventure in survival. If the drivers weren't trying to weave around you as you walked across the street, they were often trying to park their cars on the very sidewalk you were walking on. My Saudi students often talk about the drivers in their country... no matter how much I might complain, truth be told, maybe North American drivers are more saintly drivers than we claim them to be.  

We are finishing up our month with Ariel on the Website with Dream in White Time. I think the thing that struck me most about her series has been the creation of a language! Admittedly there are times in the books that I wish general everyday English had been used, but the story itself would have suffered if she'd stuck with plain old English. There wouldn't be the richness of a thriving, living, breathing culture – the believability in the story would have been compromised. The language helped with the suspension of disbelief.

We're getting ready to showcase Tammy Narayan, one of our short story writers for April and will return for the last two parts of Ariel's book in May. Tammy has been working with me to create a new Transport cover for her series of stories. I'm looking forward to the interview with her and showcasing her work starting in April. 

Have a great week everyone!

Carolyn

Images 1 – 4 downloaded from google images

Fig 1 – Great Plains retrieved from www.slideshare.net
Fig 2 – retrieved from www.arvo.org

Fig 3 – fat pens retrieved from  www.thewritingpenstore.com

Fig 4 – fat pencils retrieved from cheap custom fat pencils Wholesale - pencils
www.treepencils.com
Fig – 5 /6 parking in Sarajevo by Carolyn Varvel 
Fig 7 – White Time by Ariel Cinii
Article: Elliot, D. (2015) At last, a theory about why Denver is a mile above sea level. Retrieved from AP