I'll have to post photos of the trip to British Columbia later, since most of them are currently on Chris's computer (we dumped them there half-way through the week so I could have some room left on my camera to take more). It was good, very good, and I am tired. I saw a live octopus, and mountains, and my best friend, and I flew in a plane. We were almost eaten by a bear, and we got rear-ended by a redneck. I'm from the sticks, and this man was Hardcore Redneck Material. Anyways, it wasn't so bad, no one was hurt, etc. That's what you get for visiting Prince George, I suppose! :)

Anyways, more on that later. Let's talk about school.

At York, classes this year start on Wednesday, September 7th. This fall, I have Fridays off, and my earliest class starts at 10:00. That, my friends, is a fairly good deal. The fall line-up is: Psycholinguistics, Language and Gender, Sociolinguistic Variation & Change, Bad Girls in the Bible, Part One: The Hebrew Bible*, and my very own invented Directed Reading course, which will focus on (surprise, surprise) Language and Sexuality.

I'm also going to be working two jobs (just a continuation of both of the jobs I worked this summer, both on campus), and probably doing some tutoring on the side. In the Winter term, I have both Mondays and Wednesdays off... but I also have an 8:30 Friday morning class, and then another right after it so that I have class straight through from 8:30 to 2:30. Boo!

Oh, and a good opportunity for discourse analysis is being thrown around in the press right now. In a roundtable discussion, some reporters questioned Bush on the evolution/intelligent design debate over whether both should be part of the curriculum:

Q: I wanted to ask you about the -- what seems to be a growing debate over evolution versus intelligent design. What are your personal views on that, and do you think both should be taught in public schools?
THE PRESIDENT: I think -- as I said, harking back to my days as my governor -- both you and Herman are doing a fine job of dragging me back to the past. (Laughter.) Then, I said that, first of all, that decision should be made to local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.
Q Both sides should be properly taught?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, people -- so people can understand what the debate is about.
Q So the answer accepts the validity of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought, and I'm not suggesting -- you're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes.

Newspapers are jumping all over this as if Bush has said that ID should be mandatory in biology classrooms everywhere, but he didn't even come close to this. Let's analyse the last question and response first. Bush says, "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas," while the question was actually "The answer accepts the validity of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution?" He never answered that question. He specifically backed away from it, though he broke off a sentence that might have been a negative answer ("I'm not suggesting--"). So, is Bush out-right supporting ID as a valid alternative to evolution? No. All he is saying about ID is that it should be "properly taught" and that people should be "exposed to different ideas." This might mean that it should be taught in a religious studies course, not in a science classroom, since ID relies on theological ideas rather than the scientific method. Likewise, evolution would probably not get a fair deal by being taught in Religion rather than, say, Biology. Now, Bush didn't even say this much, he simply dodged the question and answered a different one that fit his talking points better. By dodging it and also emphasizing that the decision should be left up to local school districts, people get the feeling that it's up to them, which is more comfortable for people on both sides of the fence.

By leaving it open, he keeps the religious right from getting their backs up, but also avoids saying things that will cause scientists everywhere to groan in embarrassment.

*Course description: "The Bible offers archetypal figures for Western art, music and film as well as literature. This course will analyze women in the Hebrew Bible in English (Old Testament) with a focus on sexuality, seduction, murder and mayhem." Methinks that Jezebel, Delilah, and Bathsheeba will figure prominently in this course.