“It’s not for me, it’s for the bear”
5:00AM GMT, 11:00PM CST More than one of my readers has commented on how remarkable they find it that I can be so open about what I am thinking and feeling on my blog. “What if your students (EEK!) or colleagues (more eek?!) read what you’ve written?,” they ask. “Wouldn’t you be embarrassed?” Well, I might be, but then it really isn’t I who is writing this, now is it? It’s Fencing Bear, and Fencing Bear, being a bear, not to mention a bear in a mask carrying a sword, is much braver than Rachel or even Prof. Fulton [Brown] could ever be. Rachel, for example, is somewhat nervous of flying, but Bear finds it simply exciting. She loves the view of the world from up above the clouds, and in her youth she even imagined wanting to be an astronaut. Rachel is extremely shy about talking with strangers, but Bear will go up to almost anyone and start a conversation or even ask for a ride. Rachel worries that what she reads is sometimes not serious or academic or literary enough. Be...