>Thomas:
> >
> > Come on already! Everybody knows that Paris Hilton is
> > the person that the city of Paris is named after.
> >
>
>This was a serious question. I do not have television.
>
>Wojtek
She is somehow related to the founder of the Hilton Hotel chain. She is apparently a good self-promoter and is a celebrity in that she doesn't do anything except get observed. I think she made a bad movie (which should be easy to find at IMDB) and she was on a TV show that I was told was awful. I watched one episode that a student taped for me and it was truly awful. She came across looking so stupid, narcissistic, and ill mannered I am surprised she agreed to do the show. Maybe she thought it looked cute?
I too got rid of my TV years ago but if I didn't teach part time at the community college in the evening I would probably hook it back up. The students keep me abreast of pop culture so I am not completely ignorant of it but without them I would seem pretty clueless to many people. Not exactly a way to seem persuasive in a discussion of anything. Unfortunately if you don't know who's "famous" or what certain TV shows are about you lack credibility in many peoples eyes. They see you as a person out of touch with reality and that makes it easy for them to dismiss any ideas you have that are contrary to theirs. Makes it tough to reach students if you dismiss as illegitimate most of what they care about.
John Thornton