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

[daisyscarlett]

The older I get, the more I treasure Norman Rockwell...That little gal could have been me up until about 5th grade when one of my teachers pulled me aside and told me that little girls should not get into snowball fights with the boys during lunch time....

This was a LONG time ago, of course....In those days, we (little girls) had to wear dresses to school so it was really tough keeping up with the boys in the play yard...

[RikaStrom]

Thanks Lodwick. Sometimes I think learning HTML has been a dangerous thing. :-)

I love the picture on your home page, the images from September 11th are timeless.

I ran across that quote of Alphonse's while reading conservative author. He always likes to preface his chapters with interesting quotes.

[daisyscarlett]

Love that photo of Tommy D. Kinda reminds me of the cemetary at the Haunted Hause at Disneyland....

[daisyscarlett]

Actually, no, she did not tell me that. Now that I know the secret, I will work hard on getting an A+...I am good at links...Just have to put the link together with the WFTD...Hey, maybe that's the secret. Find a link I want to share and then work up a sentence with the WFTD in it....I'm slow, but I usually do catch on eventually...hee hee

[lodwick]

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Valerie says we need roses

[daisyscarlett]

Hey, speaking of pets, tell us about this little fellow who is featured on your Profile Page....

[daisyscarlett]

Beautiful roses...I am still treasuring the butterfly photo she posted this a.m.

[RikaStrom]

Awww, my Baby Girl.

That furry FReeper was Sparkles. I rescued her from a pound when she was 6, she passed just last month on Sept. 5th at the ripe age of 19. She would have been 20 in January.

That picture was taken at the Media Bias Freep November 2000.

I miss her.

[RikaStrom]

Valerie was right on the money with that.

[blackie]

No new movies...Barb liked Red Dragon...

I'm gonna see The Transporter either this week or the next...

[RikaStrom]

Did you see Brotherhood of the Wolf? It's out on video, a period piece set in pre-revolution France. (It's not about werewolves) :-)

Excellent flick, lots of action, a little long, and very suspenseful.

[daisyscarlett]

Sparkles was a FReeper...how very kewl...You must have taken very good care of her for her to live till 19....

[daisyscarlett]

Brotherhood of the Wolf sounds like something I would enjoy...I love period pieces and I love suspense....Any major stars in it?

[RikaStrom]

She was a doll. I am currently getting ready to find another new friend in a few weeks. I think I will continue the trend and go rescue her/it from the pound, maybe two friends if they are smaller.

I love the Rainbow Bridge.

[WVNan]

"It was not so good...all the gals are fat and old".

LOL, this is sure to be the reaction of all the guys at my reunion. I think the prevailing thought will be, "thank God for unanswered prayer."

[Slip18]

The "high heels" were like large heels. They weren't stilettos or anything. But, dang, they hurt when she decided it was time to kick me under the desk.

BTW, my parents were furious, but decided to send me to school the next day. I learned to keep my yap shut. Well, sort of . . .

[The Mayor]

You are so Sweet! I fergot. Thankyou!

The Mayor 2000-10-16.

Seems like much longer cause I'm still chasing my tail.

[daisyscarlett]

I have only attended one of my high school reunions and I had an absolute blast. I know you will have fun too. Another fun thing about the fellow who made that crack was that he was no great shakes in high school either...in the looks department anyway...He was probably gleeful that all those gals that ignored him in high school had not turned out so great...like you said, "unanswered prayers". Any word on your missing cat?

[lodwick]

Bless you for wanting to find new friends from the pound/rescue groups. If you want rescue animals, go to petfinders. com, where you can type in location, breed, etc.

Thanks again for caring for those who depend on us.

[RikaStrom]

There may be major stars, but it is a foreign film. It's dubbed, but they did a terrific job with it, it's very difficult to know.

Now I will warn you that there is some nudity. It was a very realistic period piece! Just in case you have munchkins at home, this is not a children's movie, it's definitely geared toward adults.

It really played with your mind, I didn't have the baddies figured out early. Lots of twits and turns.