Month: September 2016
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One Word: Rudyard Kipling’s “If —”
Could Rudyard Kipling’s “If—” perhaps be the longest English poem ever written about a single one-syllable word? Before discussing this, let me confess: Yes, I know how strange a question like this must make me seem, to my beloved readers! Who frets about stuff like this, anyway? The question isn’t important. But like lots of…
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One Word: 101
As a number, 101 is often assigned to the first, most basic course in a college-level subject. Statistics 101. Political Science 101. Composition 101. For this reason, it also has become, in English, a word – not just a number. It’s now a colloquial way of referring to an idea so basic that it should…
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Is Tika Sumpter the New Noel Neill?
Recently I nominated Tika Sumpter for the “Lois Lane” role pioneered by Noel Neill. What happened next is amazing. First, some background: Noel, age 95, died in July 2016. She played Lois as a kick-butt investigative reporter in the first Superman film series, opposite Kurt Alyn. She reprised that role in movies and TV, especially…