Why Do They Keep Hurting Me?

I can only guess the weird writing and painful constructions in my students' papers this semester are meant as deliberate attacks. They have to be purposeful attempts to harm me: how else could you explain yet another mixed metaphor like this one:

"He is trying to play the Almighty by pointing down from the sky at this ant farm and choosing the next human sacrifice."

Where does an ant farm come up with human sacrifices? You can begin to get a glimmer of what the student was after, but the confusion is rife. And then this, from later in the same paper:

"He took one taste of Pandora's Box and will not let go."

Does this student have any idea of what Pandora's Box was, and that one would most likely not want to lick it? Again, the very attempt should tell you that this was an honors student's work, but it's just not working. I think overall this is honors class is struggling more than any I've had before.

I don't have much else to report: after grading and chasing children and reading the sad stories from the blogs of others, I've not been doing much of interest. Yesterday we put up some solar lights in the yard, and we've been seeing far more birds at our new bird feeders, which we have been identifying as we can. Spiritual things are bubbling along, and I have some new ideas for the writing that I have yet to have time to get to lately.

Um... The weather's nicer today... I saw a dog once... Uh...

Okay. I'm going now. I'll check back in tomorrow to talk about doing some laundry and filling up the car with gas. I know it will be hard to wait for that.