Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Great Opening Lines The professor didn't want to go to school this morning. He wanted to stay home and read a good book. That's because he (OK, "I") woke up to a National Public Radio interview with Nancy Pearl, the famous librarian, who was quoting favorite first lines from at least a dozen books that I've never read. (Nancy is famous for, among other things, being the model for "the Librarian Action Figure...With amazing push-button shushing action.") She clearly loves words -- by the bookfull. Her choices were wonderful, especially the ones mentioning camels. (Why? I'm not sure.) But in the end she did inspire me to go to school today, sloshing through the rain while thinking up ways to connect her radio interview with a classroom discussion of effective ways to lead news stories -- in print, on the Web, or on the air. "I think when you read a good first line it's like falling in love with somebody," Pearl told the NPR reporter.  "Your heart starts pounding... it opens up all the possibilities." So there's today's discussion topic: In your past week of newspaper reading, were there words that quickened your pulse a little? 11:30:52 AM

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