While cleaning out the cat box this morning, I started thinking about Lil' Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks. I mean, why is he called "Warbucks"? I'm sure someone out there knows. I'm guessing it is to show that he made his money in wartime. Perhaps he was a gun runner, a mercenary? Or just had a factory that made cannons? But if so, why is he pictured as such a sweet guy in the end? Shouldn't he be this horrible evil man who lurks around in corners, twirling his moustache and casting lecherous glances at innocent young women? Instead, he adopts Annie, who turns him into a big ol' softy.
Then I started wondering what would happen when she got to be Teen Orphan Annie . . . she turns a bit rebellious, she starts picketing his ouzi factory, she runs away from home (after a big shouting scene in which she calls him a despot and throws a priceless vase into the garden) to . . . San Francisco. There she takes up with a young man who lives in the park and makes money by playing a guitar and a harmonica. That'll serve him, she thinks! Now I'm poor again!
This move from liberal to conservative to liberal again makes me wonder -- as a teenager I was extremely conservative, with lots of Republican views on money, society, gender, race, etc. Now the older I get, the more liberal I become. Isn't that a bit backward?

This morning I woke up early (due to a phone call from my hiking husband 8-) and then decided to watch the rest of the movie I started last night in bed, drinking coffee. Felt all cozy and comfy with my cup of hazelnut coffee and the quilts pulled up around me, watching an action flick. With Antonio Banderas, no less. Then some friends and I went for a walk out in the mountains. One of the things I love about living on the high plains is our proximity to beautiful mountain spaces. It was a treat to get out, walk around, watch the aspens turning color, and soak up some nature for a change. Only too soon it was time to head for home. Tonight I'm going to a volleyball game (UW vs. UNLV, I think) and then coming home for a good night's sleep before heading into the office tomorrow (yes, I know it's sunday tomorrow) to get some writing done there. I've begun to realize that my putting off writing this article from my dissertation is because I KNOW it will be badly received, at least by some. Makes me want to turn my hand to something that's a sure thing, but the only thing that might be would have something to do with NCLB, standards, assessments, etc. Nobody wants to hear now about cultural and social literacies, multiliteracies, approaching literature with a critical eye, etc. And I'm not interested in working on much else. Perhaps the writing project work I am going to be doing soon will be a nice middle-of-the-road type of research project. At least I should be able to get something published on it!