MLK Day - Monday

It's a strange, quiet Monday what with classes cancelled for MLK Day.  This has always struck TPP as a strange thing to do, cancel classes, when what you want is for students to learn something.  It doesn't make sense.  As a result, classroom buildings are silent as a tomb, although graduate students are putting the time to good use and are in the labs.  Faculty are working on projects (a presentation on unusual ornamental gymnosperms) and trying to stay ahead of their classes for another week (specimens for laboratory study). Darwin Day (Feb 12) is coming up, but we won't be cancelling classes for that.  It would be good if every one's classes did a bit on Darwin, if for no other reason, to get a rise out of that segment of the student body that doesn't do, or like, or understand science.  Even among our biology majors there are some creationists, sort of stealthy they are, having been primed to stay quiet and get those teaching certificates so then they can get teaching jobs and present the real truth, devoid of all evidence.  At any rate, it'll be time to decide what kind of cake to get for Charles, and how to decorate it. Last year it was the route of the HMS Beagle. The lesson is easy, if you want students to pay attention to MLK, and what he did, get them cake.