After a morning spent in Substacks that, while giving me a rather in-depth and carefully documented view of the current state of my country (perilous), depressed the hell out of me, I really enjoyed your piece. The sweet stories of your forays into helping non-native English speakers hone their ability to express themselves gave me a reason to smile. You have a gift, Susan. xoxoxo
The outfits are often so outré. I love how much thought they seem to have put into the whole schmear. One woman put together a b&w ensemble that matched her pooch. The sweet sincerity gets me.
Thank you for your work as a literacy volunteer! My work has brought me many international clients. If they apologize for their English, as soon as I assure them their English is very good, their mastery immediately becomes stronger. If I have difficulty in understanding them, I ask them to slow down and that seems to help.
Re Han Kang's We Do Not Part -- I often have a problem with translated literature, and this is a good example of why. Even the title has been translated into two different English titles -- We Do Not Part and I Do Not Bid Farewell. Those are different ideas -- and I think it's safe to assume the rest of the translation contains all manner of mistranslated/lost subtleties.
Susan, looove this one, especially the upside down and backwards "tenses" (and messages) that you write for your students. What a lovely volunteer commitment!
I thought the very same during the Westminster judging ... wondered if a statistical study had ever been done to look at the effect of handlers' fashion choices on Best in Breed and Best in Show picks.
For years, my husband and I have had a good laugh over the dog handlers' ensembles (and the hairdos) -- all stuck somewhere around 1982. Just dreadful -- and you're on the money about the inverse amount of time spent grooming the pooches and the godawful flats and sparkly, too-tight suits, bad box-color dye jobs (I do my own box color most of the time, because my NYC colorist wants $350 (!) and I know that it doesn't have to be dreadful). Christopher Guests' mockumentary "Best in Show" completely nailed it.
I, too had the Habitat dream, but my inability to hammer correctly meant I was destined for other things. The people you help probably have no idea that they have a wizard in their service.
I love your books and I loved this post for two reasons:
1. While looking for a job teaching in my local school board years ago, I, too, volunteered as an English literacy tutor. One student spoke English well; she had an accent but was perfectly understandable. Nevertheless, I dutifully tutored her, especially in reading and writing as she told me she found those skills daunting. Fast forward a year of two: As a new teacher I attended a professional development meeting at the board offices one afternoon for recent hires. Who should be there but my former tutoring student, also a new teacher! When she saw me she looked intensely embarrassed. She’d pretended to me that she couldn’t read or write English very well but here she was two years later, working as a qualified teacher. The icing on that cake was she told me she’d been a qualified teacher when I was tutoring her!
2. I totally agree with you about the clothing of the dog handlers at the Westminster. I’ve often wondered myself why they all look so frumpy when their dogs are works of art. I understand about the flat-heeled shoes—hard to run around a dog-show ring in 3” heels. But there are so many other wonderful clothing alternatives: tailored pants and lovely shoes with a bit of a heel that would allow the handlers to still run without breaking their necks (or a heel).
10000% right about dog handlers outfits. 😁 I have to hand it to them, though. They're so tuned in to their dogs that I don't think they care much about how they look to the judges or the audience (the handlers, that is). There's an admirable confidence in that.
After a morning spent in Substacks that, while giving me a rather in-depth and carefully documented view of the current state of my country (perilous), depressed the hell out of me, I really enjoyed your piece. The sweet stories of your forays into helping non-native English speakers hone their ability to express themselves gave me a reason to smile. You have a gift, Susan. xoxoxo
The outfits are often so outré. I love how much thought they seem to have put into the whole schmear. One woman put together a b&w ensemble that matched her pooch. The sweet sincerity gets me.
But I do miss Joe Garagiola’s color commentary.
What a marvelous snapshot of humanity. Sounds like it could be a book... just sayin'
Thank you for your work as a literacy volunteer! My work has brought me many international clients. If they apologize for their English, as soon as I assure them their English is very good, their mastery immediately becomes stronger. If I have difficulty in understanding them, I ask them to slow down and that seems to help.
Re Han Kang's We Do Not Part -- I often have a problem with translated literature, and this is a good example of why. Even the title has been translated into two different English titles -- We Do Not Part and I Do Not Bid Farewell. Those are different ideas -- and I think it's safe to assume the rest of the translation contains all manner of mistranslated/lost subtleties.
Susan, looove this one, especially the upside down and backwards "tenses" (and messages) that you write for your students. What a lovely volunteer commitment!
I get so much pleasure from it, to be honest!
austerlitz def a top 10 for me interested to hear your reaction
I’ll report back! I’m about halfway through it.
I thought the very same during the Westminster judging ... wondered if a statistical study had ever been done to look at the effect of handlers' fashion choices on Best in Breed and Best in Show picks.
For years, my husband and I have had a good laugh over the dog handlers' ensembles (and the hairdos) -- all stuck somewhere around 1982. Just dreadful -- and you're on the money about the inverse amount of time spent grooming the pooches and the godawful flats and sparkly, too-tight suits, bad box-color dye jobs (I do my own box color most of the time, because my NYC colorist wants $350 (!) and I know that it doesn't have to be dreadful). Christopher Guests' mockumentary "Best in Show" completely nailed it.
So true about the handlers. Distracting!
Can’t wait to get your take on Austerlitz. I found it painful😳.
I, too had the Habitat dream, but my inability to hammer correctly meant I was destined for other things. The people you help probably have no idea that they have a wizard in their service.
I love your books and I loved this post for two reasons:
1. While looking for a job teaching in my local school board years ago, I, too, volunteered as an English literacy tutor. One student spoke English well; she had an accent but was perfectly understandable. Nevertheless, I dutifully tutored her, especially in reading and writing as she told me she found those skills daunting. Fast forward a year of two: As a new teacher I attended a professional development meeting at the board offices one afternoon for recent hires. Who should be there but my former tutoring student, also a new teacher! When she saw me she looked intensely embarrassed. She’d pretended to me that she couldn’t read or write English very well but here she was two years later, working as a qualified teacher. The icing on that cake was she told me she’d been a qualified teacher when I was tutoring her!
2. I totally agree with you about the clothing of the dog handlers at the Westminster. I’ve often wondered myself why they all look so frumpy when their dogs are works of art. I understand about the flat-heeled shoes—hard to run around a dog-show ring in 3” heels. But there are so many other wonderful clothing alternatives: tailored pants and lovely shoes with a bit of a heel that would allow the handlers to still run without breaking their necks (or a heel).
Loved this!
Love the bit about the dog handlers!
10000% right about dog handlers outfits. 😁 I have to hand it to them, though. They're so tuned in to their dogs that I don't think they care much about how they look to the judges or the audience (the handlers, that is). There's an admirable confidence in that.