Posted on August 29, 2008 by lmandle
Hooray to Denise Van De Wall, the BGSU head coach for volleyball, who will be heading to Beijing as the national team assistant coach for the women’s sitting volleyball team for the Paralympics! It’s wonderful to see someone from BGSU getting involved in an international venue with persons with disabilities. This is a link to the BGNews article about her involvement with the team.
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/storage/paper883/news/2008/08/28/Sports/Van-De.Walle.To.Coach.U.s.Sitting.Team-3406806.shtml
I had never seen a sitting volleyball game before, but YouTube came to my rescue and I found several videos. Here is a link to one from YouTube featuring the USA Women’s Paralympic Sitting Volleyball Team. You go ladies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVcf4fyHgVg&feature=related
By the way, keep your eyes on the videos at YouTube because no network in the U.S. is showing the Paralympic games. However, there is a site called ParalympicSportTV at YouTube and here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/ParalympicSportTV
Filed under: Sports | Tagged under disabilities, Paralympic, Paralympics, sitting volleyball | No Comments »
Posted on August 26, 2008 by lmandle
I often talk to my classes (i.e., lecture) about avoiding using the “R-word.” I find this necessary because I actually hear students use the “r-word” in class to refer to themselves or to another person, and the first time I hear it, out comes the lecture. Despite my comments, I frequently continue to hear the use of the word, and I know students use it out of my range of hearing. Perhaps they have used the “r-word” so frequently it has become a habit. Perhaps they don’t find the “r-word” offensive themselves. Perhaps they don’t care if someone is offended by the “r-word.” But here is fair warning to all of my students—I find that word very offensive—please do not use it. I’ll go further and encourage you to discourage your friends and family members from using it.
In any case, here we are at the beginning of the semester and I have not yet talked to my students about this topic. I’m hoping I won’t have to. I’m hoping they will read the article I’ve linked to below and will get the message. One never knows who one will offend by using this horrid word, so please, take a few minutes and at least skim the article.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-shriver22-2008aug22,0,4571473.story?track=ntothtml
Filed under: Opinion | Tagged under offensive words | 4 Comments »