Wednesday

Took yesterday off to take KoKo to the orthodontist in Fosston. She still has about four baby teeth that have refused to come out. Thus, her permanent teeth are coming in around or over them. This has given her a bit of a cross-bite, which means . . . braces!

After going through X-rays and pictures and a mold of her teeth, KoKo also learned that she is missing all of her wisdom teeth. The dentist said that about 5% of people are born without them. I guess not having to pay for them to get cut out a few years from now will help offset the cost of braces. KoKo also learned that she has a massive nasal cavity just behind her forehead. The doctor asked her if she ever got sinus infections and sever headaches. KoKo said no, and he added that she was lucky because when people have such large nasal cavities, they can get splitting headaches when their nasal passages are infected.

Later, on the way home, KoKo asked me exactly what the doctor meant by her large nasal cavity – I think she was still focused on not having any wisdom teeth. I told KoKo that since she had such a large nasal cavity that she must have a smaller brain.

Don’t worry. I only let her believe that for a few seconds. But it sure seemed to explain some things – or so she thought!

*****

In my College Comp classes we are working on our persuasive topics. Man, I could do this forever. These kids were animals. They discussed their topics (cell phones in school and Title IX) and were passionate. It was one of those rare days (well, rare for me anyway) where I didn’t feel like a teacher (which is a good thing). Instead, everyone shared and took part in the teaching.

I asked them if they wanted to argue again tomorrow. “YES!” was the response. I’ll focus on this all week if they get into it like this each day.

*****

I see my blog made the local paper. That must explain why my readership has gone up. I think there must be some hard feelings over the Kaffir Boy ruling and my rant against some attacks against the book and some of my colleagues by community members and parents. To those who are offended, these are just my thoughts. Keep reading if you wish. If you're looking for much on the controversy, you’ll find that the it was just a minute potion of this blog.