Chalk

December 10, 2012 11:35 AM

"Thinking too much about chalk," and the full texts it cites: Thomas Huxley's "On a Piece of Chalk" and GK Chesterton's "A Piece of Chalk".
posted by curious nu (5 comments total)

But I'm charmed by the idea that when a school teacher writes her name on a blackboard on the first day of class, what she's really doing is crushing the skeletons of terribly ancient earthlings into a form that spells out the name "Mrs. Guttenheimer." Does she know?

No, but the clever little girl in the back of the room who was sent to the office for interrupting the teacher with a loud and disgusting "Ewwwwww..." knew.
To this day, Ms. Guttenheimer thinks it was a reaction to her ugly name.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:32 PM on December 10, 2012 [4 favorites]

Let's not tell the clever little girl where Jello comes from, OK?
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:47 PM on December 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

*In tiny, high voice:* Jello comes from the remnants of exploded supernovae, just like we do, silly.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:04 PM on December 10, 2012 [5 favorites]

Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pockets. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.

Yeah, my pockets are pretty epic at the end of the day, too.



...a peacefully domestic and mutton-suggesting prettiness...

Great image.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:28 PM on December 10, 2012

Thinking too much about half a piece of chalk.
posted by MtDewd at 7:29 AM on December 11, 2012 [1 favorite]