Amazing!

Ever notice how AMAZING everything is these days?

"My boyfriend is amazing!"

"That movie was totally amazing!"

"Your kazoo-playing is soooo amazing!"

Is everything really that impressive? Are our young people really that stunned by things that were considered only mildly interesting 10-20 years ago, or is it just reckless exaggeration? Is this a recent phenomenon or have I just started to notice it because I'm getting older?

Now that I think about it, everything was TOTALLY AWESOME when I was a teenager. So, does AMAZING constitute progress? Probably as much as AWESOME was an improvement on GROOVY.

(This pointless rant brought to you by a grumpy professor who normally likes goofy, young people well enough, but is AMAZED at how irritating over-usage of this word has become.)

Happy Reagan Centennial

Say what you will about Reagan's policies, but I'll tell you one thing: I am grateful to have come of age during the 1980s when Reagan was in office. His optimism was infectious, and we all felt it -- even in Canada, where Carnaby and I grew up. We had a wonderful popular culture and we had real hope for the future based on the sense that America and the West were generally good places. Hard to believe there was ever a time like that. God willing, maybe we'll experience it again some day.

Happy Reagan Centennial.