Five Things I Learned About Elephants
The G. High School drama classes I had today, like at Henrico High last spring, were the kids left while a bunch of others went downtown to prepare a show they're doing. These kids were lots less interested in the busy work than the Henrico High kids were. I did however gain some insight into the senior prank and teen romance. In the former case, the perpetrators have to write letters of apology - to the high school and, I think, to the colleges they will be off to in the fall. The consenus among students: the TP in the trees and chalk messages on the sidewalk were easily cleaned up and were not "mean or violent," so the students shouldn't get into trouble. The later story is one of a senior in a morning class who moaned she didn't want to go to the prom -- with a friend, a sophomore -- because she had such a bad time last year with her then-boyfriend. She was asking the boys in the class what happens if you don't pick up the tux you rent (would her date still have to pay if she said, Forget it.) Later in the day, I met the sophomore. He seems smitten with her. It could have a very sad ending.

Then I had two biology classes: watch this video, write down five things you learned about elephants (I upped it to 8 for the last period, 'cause I am mean). I learned that elephants:
- make sounds too low for the human ear to register.
- give birth every four years "at best."
- walk on their toes.
- have teeth that weigh up to 12 pound each!
- have microbes in their "guts" to help with digestion.

Shout Out
Great Preakness Party, Dan! Thanks so much, too, for the trip to Glen Echo. Glen Echo features a 1920s carosuel, a beautifully restored dancing pavillion, and the other fascinating remains of a street car line amusement park that made it to 1968. If you're in metro DC, you should go: it's run by a foundation and the National Park Service. Admission is free, carousel rides cost 75 cents. All that, plus I got to see my first 17-year cicadas. They are smaller than the 13-years(?) we get, with red eyes. They don't fly well, so I saw several on the ground. People are mean, so most of those had been squished.

On the musak at Ukrops: "Grease (is the word)."
At the Byrd: Return of the King