st. patrick’s day is my favorite holiday.  i am not irish, but i can pass for it, in fact people assume it…  red hair and all its stereotypes… i am scottish, i do not have a short temper (we scots prefer to hold a grudge for a very long time)…but i digress…

back to st. patrick–i observe the day by speaking in an irish dialect all day long.  this is great fun when i am teaching, because it throws the students off and makes them pay close attention to everything i say.  but this year, i don’t teach on the grand day.  i will be sitting in front of the computer having very little speaking time.  so, i have decided to declare this st. patrick’s week!  i started celebrating on saturday by going to the st. pat’s at five points festival in columbia http://www.stpatsinfivepoints.com/)(.  that was the most un-irish gathering i have ever seen!  people were drinking abominable green beer (putting artificial coloring in bud lite does not make it irish!) and listening to american bands.  okay, so i had a fantastic time at the mutemath show (http://www.mutemath.com/), and i messed up my hearing listening to seven nations (http://www.sevennations.com/)and their bagpipe rock, but it wasn’t irish…

anyway, i will be using dialect this week–for the whole week–and i think you should celebrate, too.  people get months to observe christmas, why can’t we take a week to honour the man who drove out the snakes?  so, go drink some irish beer or whiskey or poteen and eat some potatoes for the grand saint’s sake!  and don’t forget to sign the propostion 3-17 petition (http://www.proposition317.com/Gateway.aspx)!