Working at a community college in Woodland, most of my time is spent painstakingly going over second language learner's papers. It can be rough sometimes, mostly because I now find myself fixing grammar and puncutation in my dreams, which makes me feel like a huge dork. But, nevertheless, it can be quite entertaining, too. Today, for example, I just proofread two papers by Indian students who have been here less than a year; the first is an ode to Wal-Mart, the second is an ode to Chili's. Why do I find this interesting? Because so rarely are the praises of mass consumerism and commercialism sung that I find such rigorous defense on the part of huge corporations a nice change of pace. My years at UC Davis (and in California in general) taught me one thing-- chain bad, local good! So even though I give my small amounts into the Wal-Mart and Chili's coffers, there's a certain amount of shame that is accompanied by it. How refreshing to see two people sing the praises of s...