Looking Ahead to 2008 - New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again when many people resolve to improve their lives. Have you started making your 2008 resolutions yet? A promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year: lose weight, pay off debts, save money, get a better job, get fit, eat right, get a better education, drink less alcohol, quit smoking, reduce stress, take a trip, or volunteer to help others.

Elections 2008: Caucuses and Primaries

In primary elections and caucuses, a vote cast for a presidential candidate is actually a vote for that candidate's delegates to their political party's national convention, which takes place about two months before the final vote. A primary is a state-level election where voters affiliated with political parties choose candidates to represent their parties in the general election. A caucus is a local-level meeting of registered party members to determine support for a candidate. The results of these meetings are combined on a statewide basis to determine a state’s party nominee.

INTRODUCING – Visual Dictionary online

Merriam-Webster has leaded up with QA International to launch a new Online Visual Dictionary, which contains information on over 20,000 terms and more than 6,000 illustrations. You can browse the dictionary by topic (from astronomy to sports & games) or you can do a keyword search of the index, which will suggest words. The Visual Dictionary is designed to help you find the right word at a glance.

Teaching Literature: Words

"I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven." - Samuel Johnson, Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

“WOTY season” - The word-of-the-year ritual probably started with the American Dialect Society, a scholarly association whose Web site lists yearly picks as far back as 1990. This year the society will vote in January; its 2006 selection was “plutoed,” which means “to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto.” You are invited to make your own nomination.

This Month

Religious Freedom Day - January 16

On Religious Freedom Day, the United States celebrates the passage of the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and the protection of religious freedom in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Founding Fathers knew the importance of freedom of religion to a stable democracy. Next to the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson took greatest pride in his authorship of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, which, as his friend James Madison said, "extinguished forever the ambitious hope of making laws for the human mind."

Martin Luther King Day – January 21

On the third Monday of January Americans honor the life and achievements of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968), the 1964 Nobel Peace laureate and the individual most associated with the triumphs of the African-American civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s.

New eJournal: Rethinking International Aid

New media technologies give average citizens access to vast amounts of information and broad networks of people. People can use these tools to pursue social and political agendas of their own making. This edition of eJournal USA shows how this new empowerment is influencing nations in various parts of the world.

Information on Upcoming Webchats and EductionUSA