A Purple Post For Saturday Post-Syllabi Finality and in Anticipation of a Passionate Performance With Writing

This little guy is called Ooga. Great name for a purple creature, no? I just added him to a syllabus I finally knotted up and posted to the web because I'm now secure and confident I won't make anymore last minute changes (he says, knowing he will).

For me, after reading Alice Walker, purple has always been the color I associate with passion and I'm most passionate about teaching the two courses I managed to land this semester. It's 15 weeks of passion, I tell you.

And I can't help but add silly things like Ooga to my courses because it's in my nature to stay silly in everything I do. I like to play and laugh - and I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. I'm a cheap 'bastage' in real life, but when it comes to having little toys for my classroom and trinkets to hand out to others, I go hog wild (I once pulled out a credit card in St. Augustine, Florida, and did serious damage on a collection of wind-up toys). 

It makes me happy.

It also reminds me of Lois Minto, my administrative assistant and friend, who passed away unexpectedly last year. She always used my toys as a way to insult my integrity. Below is a video I found on my computer last night. I couldn't help but laugh. 

Ooga. Ooga it is.