Friday, June 12, 2009

Lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics

That's what laodicean means. It was the final word in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee and Kavya Shivashankar got it. I watched the final rounds and was thrilled I could spell 1 of the championship words - guayabera- woo hoo for me! I was stunned as I have been in the past as I watched these children spell words that I had never heard of before in my life. I think it's amazing.

I was also extremely thrilled that this was on prime time TV. Very cool. In a world where surviving a Japanese game show and bachelor/bachelorette reality shows are on their umpteenth seasons, it was truly refreshing that the National Spelling Bee competition was a main event. As I thought more on the topic it occurred to me that although it made the news (and unfortunately still is) the Miss USA pageant wasn't on prime time. If it was even on TV, I don't know. The advertisements weren't in my face that's for sure. I only knew it happened because of Miss. CA's response in the Q&A.

I remember watching all those pageants when I was a kid, mostly I think because it was the only thing on. I mean we only had 3 channels, remember. Now, I'm thinking it's a good sign that the Spelling Bee is a bigger deal than a beauty pageant. I'm happy that we are watching and encouraging kids to use their heads, words are important. Hmm...maybe Miss. CA could have used that lesson, then she would have been able to answer in a truthful yet perhaps less controversial way.

NOTE: I have to comment on the irony that the spellchecker did not recognize the contest winning word: laodicean. LOL!

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