Jesse Jackson for President? Shirley Chisholm?

While discussing the historic nature of this year's Democratic primary election -- a black candidate against a female candidate -- Hyon reminded me that we have had a black candidate for president before. Jesse Jackson was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984, winning more than 12% of the vote. He did much better in 1988, when he won more than 31% of the vote at the Democratic Convention. Since then, he has continued working for peace and justice in the U.S. and throughout the world.

In addition, Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to run for president of the United States. Neither was Shirley Chisholm when she made her 1972 run for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman presidential candidate. See a video of her announcing her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United Staes. Chisholm died in 2005.

Okay, ok, O.K.

If you want to know the etymology of a word or phrase, you want to know where it came from or how it got started. There are several stories about the origin of the word okay. Do an Internet search using the key words okay and etymology. Take notes about what you find for class discussion later today. Okey dokey?

Presidents' Day

On Monday, February 18, banks and government offices will be closed in honor of Presidents' Day. However, ACC and Austin public schools do not have a holiday. We will have class on the 18th of February. Click here to read more about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. If you're feeling adventurous, take a Presidents' Day quiz.

End of Semester Party

Fall 2007 was an awesome semester! Thanks to all of you who helped make it so.

Below is our 2007 rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, with apologies to Laura and Angeles, who had gone to pick up the pizza.

Holiday Links

Take this test on "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to see how much you remember about the poem. It's not really a test, so if you can't remember, you can look at your paper to find the answer.

Read stories by ESL students about their Christmas and New Year memories.

Try these 30 questions to test your English grammar while you learn about the history of Santa Claus.

Find out why we have Christmas trees and lights and learn about the origins of other holiday traditions.

The Gift of the Magi and O'Henry

Some of you have read The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry in class. Here is a link to a recording of the story so you can listen to it as you read. Scroll down until you see the audio player, click the arrow for Play, and then scroll back to the top of the story to read with the recording.

O. Henry was born William Sidney Porter in North Carolina in 1862. He moved to Austin when he was 22 years old. He lived here for 13 years--until he was accused (and later convicted) of embezzling funds from the First National Bank, where he had worked as a teller for three years. While he was in prison, he started using the name O'Henry for his writing. The house where he lived in Austin is now the O. Henry Museum at 409 E. Fifth Street.

Zodiac, Chinese Astrology, and Days of the Week

Signs of the Zodiac — http://www.astrology-online.com/persn.htm

Chinese Astrology— http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/

What does it mean to be born on Saturday? Here's a traditional English nursery rhyme that predicts your life based on the day of the week you were born:

• Monday's child is fair of face [pretty or handsome]
• Tuesday's child is full of grace [moves well; may be a good dancer]
• Wednesday's child is full of woe [sad; many troubles]
• Thursday's child has far to go [will travel; has many plans and projects]
• Friday's child is loving and giving
• Saturday's child works hard for its living
• But the child that is born on the Sabbath day [Sunday]
• Is bonny [pretty] and blithe [happy], and good and gay [very happy; no worries]

Note! The word gay used to be different from what it means today. When this poem was written, it meant happy and cheerful.