A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....10-16-02

Billie and daisyscarlett

[daisyscarlett]

The Free Republic Forum has approximately 14 "Daily Threads". Today, we are happy to SPOTLIGHT one of them, along with its founder, anniegetyourgun, and its current teacher, RikaStrom.

The mission of the Word for the Day Thread is to raise the level of discourse and expand language abilities. The Rules are simple: Everyone who chooses to post must leave a post using the "word of the day" in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day.

Anniegetyourgun started the Word for the Day thread on 2-10-01. Click here to read that first thread .

Anniegetyourgun called the thread "Word For The Day" because she planned to "teach" a daily class. She developed a Freeper school scenerio-establishing the routine, monitoring responses, setting the rules, "grading" the results, etc. She did "lesson planning" the night before and opened the school house door every morning at 7 am PST. Soon the WFTD thread took on the feel of a cyberclassroom. Since AGYG is not a teacher by profession, this was quite an accomplishment!

Being as Freepers have such creative minds, one thing led to another. They soon had things like "recess" bells, lunchroom time (complete with tuna croquettes), JimRob as principal, and Show and Tell days. They even fancifully created teachers of other classes at FR School. (BTW, ultimately, the Spanish teacher ran off with the German teacher!) They also had running jokes about the school nurse, as many of the guys in the class presumed she was beautiful and were always coming down "ill" for some reason!

There have always been special weeks at WFTD, such as "graduate level" word weeks, a week of some of the latest words added to the English language (neologisms), Spring Break vacation week, etc. One weekend, they had an open house on FR so people could find out more about WFTD – complete with student work being "displayed". During the summer of 2001, there was a "WFTD Summer Camp" at Camp Lotsawords -. lotsafun was had at Camp Lotsawords - including pranks!

In the real world, at least two homeschool mothers on FR have used the WFTD thread for their children everyday.

anniegetyourgun
Freeper since 11-24-00

"In Her Own Words"

"I hate to say it, but it seemed to me that there was a need on FR to perhaps 'upgrade' the language, spelling, grammar, word usage, etc. Rather than insult folks by saying so, I thought I might try a forum that would allow people to expand their vocabulary, explore word origins, and generally try things out."

"The thrill for me was to find so many on FR who are truly gifted writers, people with excellent imaginations, those with incredible senses of humor who were always making me laugh out loud at my desk, even a student who wrote the FR school song."

"I had to stop in May (2001) due to schedule changes and RikaStrom took over. I was so relieved because the 'students' had become so close and I hated to see it die out."

"I had a blast with WFTD. I believe it has contributed to the 'persona' of FR. Why, we've even seen BIG name journalists use the WFTD in an article they wrote within a day or two of it coming up on our thread. Coincidence? U decide!"

Just in case you are wondering, that is not really a photo of anniegetyour gun shown above. Anniegetyourgun says she "actually looks like a cross between Marsha (of Brady Bunch) and Joey Heatherton - if you can imagine them in their mid-forties!"

RikaStrom
Freeper since 11-10-00

RikaStrom's Profile Page leads off with the following:

"I am the current 'teacher' for WFTD, the FReeper school of vocabulary and inventive verbiage. This school was the creation of Anniegetyourgun.

If you have a sense of humor, please come on in. If you are part of the 'short bus' group, you can come in too. My students need targets for their verbal veracity. We thank the talented Registered for our school logo!"

Miss Rika took over posting the WFTD thread during the Spring Break thread in 2001. At the time, "that particular thread was keeping me sane." So she decided that she would step right up and continue to post the thread after it became impossible for Miss Annie to continue. She has been posting the WFTD thread for over a year and a half.

RikaStrom, who is also very active FReeping with the Houston Chapter of FR, recently started a new job and does not have the time luxury that she experienced at her previous position. Student Bella_Bru is now sharing teaching duties with Miss Rika. Mistress Bella does one week, Miss Rika does one week. This new arrangement began around September 10, 2002.

Here are two links to memorable threads suggested by Miss Rika.

Word for the Day Review 4-24-01

Word for the Day Review 6-04-01

THANK YOU, ANNIEGETYOURGUN
THANK YOU, RIKASTROM

YOU ARE TWO OF FR'S FINEST

THIS WEEK'S THREADS

10-14-02 Molly Pitcher

10-15-02 Dutchess

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

     1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
     2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
     3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
     4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
     5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me an FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[RikaStrom]

Good Morning Pippin. You would be welcome in WFTD.

Thank goodness for lunch hours, that's how I get my freeping dose in now.

[RikaStrom]

I have to "borrow" that pledge gif too. I think I'll add it under our logo. :-)

Morning Miss Annie. It's good to see you.

[JustAmy]

Congratulations on being featured as three of FR's Finest.

[JustAmy]

Good Morning, All

Daisy, Shaggy dropped by to say it's a wonderful day!

[RikaStrom]

So young, they were all so young.

Thanks for adding their names and I'm sorry that you had names to add.

[anniegetyourgun]

Thank you, sweetie...I love those flowers!

[humblegunner]

Kudos to Annie & Rika!!!
Outstanding choices for the spotlight!

[ladtx]

They were very young. It really brings the point home when I realize that I have 3 sons, whose ages are 30, 28, and 22. My heart goes out to the parents of those lost so young.

[RikaStrom]

Thank you Amy. Those are beautiful.

I have to wander off to work, I'll come back during lunch.

[ladyinred]

anniegetyourgun, RikaStrom, and BellaBru!

Although I have lurked at WFTD, I have always been far too intimidated to post there! :-) It is a great service to FR, and the three of you should be so proud of the results!

Enjoy your day in the spotlight ladies!

[ladyinred]

Good morning Miss Daisyscarlett, lovely graphic at the beginning with the books framing the copy!

Up a little early here in California, so I decided to drop by and see if breakfast is ready!

[ladyinred]

I always forget to thank you for the coffee and hot chocolate. I take both you see, never being able to decide which one I want!

[Temple Owl]

Good morning all you beautiful dolls. We are welcoming some well needed rain here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It's a beautiful day.

[ladyinred]

Hi Pip!
What is the deal with your employers? Silly me, guess you can't answer that right now, right?
Have a lovely day in spite of someone trying to spoil all your fun!

[dutchess]

Congratulations to some fine "refined" freepers. I have occasionally popped into your thread and have always walked away awed by the talent AND humor of the posts AND critiques. After reading the background...I think I need to spend a little more time there!

Daisy...another wonderful spotlight today. Freepers are the best!

[ladyinred]

Good morning Amy! You are up early aren't you? I guess the cows and the roosters wake up you country folks pretty much at the crack of dawn right? (hee hee)

BTW: Are we doing the Halloween candy thingie this Friday, or does JustFrank eat it all if you leave him in charge?

Have a fun day in EIEIO!

[dutchess]

Awe...four today...and yes..they were so young. I'm sure a day does not pass that their family's miss them...Thanks for keeping their memories alive....

[ladyinred]

You know you contribute so much to FR even without being the teacher anymore at WFTD, so you deserve to be honored BIG TIME!
Thank you Miss Annie, for all you do to make FR the greatest stop on the WWW!!!!

[ladyinred]

RIP
Heroes one and all, may they never be forgotten, and always be honored. (you too, for that matter)

[anniegetyourgun]

Thanks, dutch! Though I'm not so sure how 'refined' I am! The really refined folk are the ones who used to post poetry to the WFTD thread. I think they outgrew us and went on to their own thread! Oh, the haiku in those early days....