Megan Mouw

I bet you won’t finish reading this...

I know this because, unfortunately, the addictive nature of web browsing is something that I am well accustomed to. I am ashamed to admit that I have, on countless occasions, stayed up all night browsing useless websites, all the while ignoring that little voice in my head that’s telling me to do something more productive.

It’s safe to say I’m not fighting this battle alone. I have watched helplessly as my own friends and family struggle to tear their eyes away from the enticing web pages of the Internet, and I am not surprised that the cause of the shrinking attention span of teenagers and children is being pinpointed upon this very phenomenon.

• Read more

The best thing about having a younger sister is the excuse it gives me to re-read all those children books I loved so much as a child. Upon re-reading Beverly Cleary’s “Ramona the Pest,” I was happily reminded of the mistake Ramona made while singing the American National Anthem on her first day of kindergarten. The 5-year-old Ramona mishears the line “dawns early light” as “dawnzer lee light.” I found this exponentially more humorous than my younger sister, who stared at me blankly as I laughed until I cried.  

To redeem myself, I mentioned the incident to a friend of mine, who reassured me that Ramona’s mistake was indeed a funny one. She also mentioned a couple of similar mistakes she made as a child. To her, “The Wizard of Oz” was the “Wizard a Foz,” and up until two years ago the commonly used phrase “play it by ear” was misheard as “play it by year.” Hearing this, I again burst into a bout of embarrassingly loud laughter, while my friend glared at me.  

• Read more