Little Controversies here and there...
Once in a while you open the newspaper (or click on one) and discover that someone has triggered a controversy. This week I have discovered two controversies which I like. The first one came out on Tuesday, reported by the Associated Press, about how the DEA in the United States is considering hiring Ebonics translators to help them understand the language used by drug dealers in wiretap conversations. Good stuff, this. I am an English teacher, and I write poetry and fiction, but (or and) at heart I am a linguist (my BA was in Linguistics and English):we were given great training on all issues linguistic at the University of Zimbabwe; so yes, I love this stuff. Plus I am teaching a college writing class under what we call the Diop program at my college, a program whose emphasis is the African American experience.It's a program, which means I work with the same students for two semesters, assigning college essays on African American issues. Our first topic usually deals with langua...