My apologies

I make every effort to write this blog in plain English, and not in the academic Gobbledeegook I sometimes use in my work. In a previous entry, I stated that our Chinese visitors were coming to ETSU "for a month of American pedagogical studies and language and cultural immersion."

I meant to say that our visitors are coming to learn more about America, its education system, and its language. We have no plans to teach them to speak Gobbledeegook.

Thanks to the ever-reliable Dennis Cope for calling this lapse to my attention.

China is coming to us

People asked why I wasn't blogging. In part, the problem was exhaustion. Three trips to China in one year take something out of a person. I've been resting a lot.

There was another reason. For months, I have been absorbed in an effort to bring twelve professors from China to the ETSU campus for a month of American pedagogical studies and language and cultural immersion. It took a lot of effort. Until I was sure it would happen, I did not want to post anything on the web. Many times, I thought it would fall through. But now, we have things in place. Two weeks from Saturday, we will be greeting our visitors.

Below: Dr. Knight meets with Vice President Li and Mr. Guo at North China University of Technology in Beijing. Picture was taken last March, when the project was first discussed.

Below: Students at North China University of Technology

New Desk

Today our friend Dennis Cope came over with BART--which is what he calls his Big Red Truck-- and together with Joe, they carted away the small formica-topped desk I was given at age 14. The thing is virtually indestructible, which is why I had it so long; but placing a computer on top of it was crowded. For years, I've been piling papers on the study floor and reading articles in bed. Finally, I have replaced it with something that fits how I work.

Joe and Dennis were so efficient that I didn't have time to take a picture before my old desk disappeared. The desk pictured below is similar.

Above: BART and Dennis. Below: the new desk and computer console.