Recognition

It's nice to be recognized for your talents and creativity, even if it's belated.

I've been named teacher of the year!

Ha, no. But something even better happened! The ClaremontIGrammarians have been acknowledged. And we didn't even do anything this year!

Some people have been asking what happened to the Grammarians. Unfortunately, we did not participate in Claremont's annual Independence Day parade this year. Only one Grammarian still lives in town and most of our members were traveling for the holiday, so it didn't come together. The event was so epic last year and the year before and even the year before that that I didn't want to half-ass it and tarnish our good name.

Ah, but who am I kidding? We don't really have a good name. Not only do the parade officials dislike us, but we unintentionally created a distasteful scene when our sign with a period joke became water-damaged and caused a bloody mess.

Of course, causing a stir is our main motivation for parading. Well, that and spreading the virtues of grammar, obviously.

So though I actively regret not punctuating the parade this year, it brings me some comfort to know we haven't been forgotten. Grammarian Terri found that a So-Cal reporter gave us a shout out. In his post, he references some of the odd things he saw in the parade, then concludes with a reference to our group: "But where were the ClaremontIGrammarians, who rode in the last few parades in a panel truck decorated with placards like "I Before E" and "Don't Use Contractions"?"

I had to google what a panel truck is; I must note that we have never ridden in a panel truck. Sorry for being a stickler, but I am a Grammarian, after all. But that's beside the point anyway! Apparently, we've sufficiently made our (punctuation) mark. We're still being discussed even when we don't show up.

That knowledge is more gratifying than a hand-job. We'd always end the evening imagining that we were the group strange enough to have people talking - out of confusion, amusement, or contempt - even after they returned home.

On that note, I'd like to think the Grammarians aren't dead. Maybe we'll just change our name: [insert town name] Grammarians. Maybe we'll stick with the ClaremontIGrammarians to make us seem even more pretentious when we visit other towns. Whatever the approach is, I feel inspired, and believe we still have a lot of grammar and hilarity to spread at some point in the future. If anyone knows of any local parades, regardless of the holiday or cause, let us know!